BLOODSTONE: A DUNGEON AND DRAGONS ADVENTURE pt 1
by KansasVaultdweller
Summary: A mage and retired adventurer is reluctantly forced out of retirement to retrieve an ancient artifact for a most unlikely client. This book is now complete.
1. Chapter 1

Gensmot is a rough city, if you go down the wrong street you can be sure to run into trouble and I was definitely on the wrong street. Worse, I was wool gathering in my brain and I barely have time to duck before a city guardsman bounced off a stone wall over my head as I emerged onto the Street of Dreaming . The guard fell as a silent lump to the cobbled street. I looked out and could see one of the Ogres that pulled the great ferries across the river was surrounded by nine guardsmen wielding oaken cudgels that seemingly were having no effect on the Ogre. Two other guardsmen lay on the ground and were not moving, the red and white sashes that denoted their status as watchmen showing up brightly against the stones. With the one that just bounced off the wall, that made three guardsmen down and the others looking scared. Ogres and Black Lotus do not mix well, and I could tell by foam dripping from its mouth that it must have gotten ahold of a potent dose.

The street the fight was taking place is called the Street of Dreaming where the black lotus is sold in dingy holes for those seeking relief from the reality of the world. Black lotus is forbidden in most civilized places, but in Gensmot it is allowed as is everything else that doesn't interfere with the "good order of things". That, of course, is just another way of saying as long as it does not interfere with the Great Families making money, which is the only real sin in Gensmot. The street I am treading on is cobbled with rough stones seemingly designed to turn an ankle. It normally has a graveyard like qair to it, but not today.

This ogre was not particularly big for his kind, as he did not stand more than eight and a half feet tall (2.5m), but he was well muscled from his occupation of pulling a ferry across the turbulent confluences of the river. His face was stupid looking, and his dark lanky hair hung down in strands. His shirt was a dirty rag probably sewn from an old blanket and he wore a kilt made from a single brown and poorly cured cowhide. A guardsman darted in to strike his cudgel on the knee of the ogre, but the ogre caught him by the nape and raised him over his head with an inarticulate roar.

I must admit I have no love for the city guard, they are little more than the Doge's bully boys, nor did I feel sorry for the ogre, he should have known better than to antagonize the City Guard. Normally, I would have simply backed up and went another way because I do not concern myself with other people's battles, but the damn ogre roared and when he saw me, he chucked the hapless guardsman at me. Lucky for the guardsman I was there to break his fall and we both landed hard on the hard cobbled street. Bruised and more than a little pissed, I disentangled myself from the guardsman and regained my feet, swearing unkind and blasphemous oaths at the ogre.

I suppose I should tell you who I am. I am called Barrim the Mage by most, sometimes Barrim the Alchemist, but I also enjoy some more derogatory epithets by my enemies and my landlord, but I repeat myself. I have seen thirty five winters come and go, and you have probably guessed by my title that I am a student of the arcane, and not a bad one at that. I wield enough power to make people leery about bothering me, but not enough to single me out to the Great Families as either a threat or an asset to manipulated, usually. I am tall and stout and I look exactly like what I am, the son of blacksmith. Indeed, one of the most frequent criticisms leveled at me is that I just don't look like a wizard. I have eschewed the robes and the pointy hats for earthen colored wool trousers and dull yellow linen shirt with a leather waistcoat with numerous pockets, which I found to be practical when I was adventuring and still enjoy wearing. Despite the perception of my sartorial shortcomings, I enjoy a well-earned reputation for wizardry among, mostly, the adventurers who operate out of the city. Fifteen years ago when I came to this city, I was fresh-face young mage who had just won his staff and I came here looking for adventure like the rest of the fools and I found it. I have since that day walked several thousand miles and clambered and crawled through a hundred dank barrows and tombs and searched the ruins of hundred fallen cities. Now I prefer my chambers and my books to some wilderness camp, but I still keep my dark brown hair and beard cut short as I did as when I actually looked for trouble.

I was not looking for trouble today, but I do not like having things thrown at me, especially people. I was angry and maybe that got the better of my judgment as I walked over to the ogre, who was now facing away from me, and I reached up under his kilt and found what I was looking for and then I spoke the spell in the Arcane Language and my Bigby's Shocking Grasp spell went off with the desired effect.

Electrical energy made the greasy black hair on the head of the ogre stand up straight and he let out a peculiar high-pitched keening wail and then fell to his knees holding his crotch with both hands. Tears rolled down his eyes, and the guardsmen showed little mercy as they pounded his skull as hard as they could, some their seasoned oak cudgels even broke during the onslaught and eventually the ogre went down, blood leaking from his nose and ears. He would probably be okay when he woke up, ogres are tough. The sergeant-at-arms nodded to me in thanks and I nodded back and continued on my errand, noting the damage the beserk ogre had done along the way. I could follow the trail of destruction to a dingy black lotus house with the front door lying in the middle of the street, its wrought iron hinges twisted and broken.

Gensmot is cesspool of a city with a veneer of white marble that echoes with the sound of the numerous fountains that flow freely in every square and marketplace, built by the city's guilds as gaudy monuments to themselves. The origins of the city's name, which few remember, comes from some old language and it means "peaceful meeting place" because the kings of three ancient kingdoms used to meet on this island to discuss treaties and such things. It had been declared independent and neutral territory by them and has remained so for several hundred years. Gensmot belongs to no king or prince, just to the powerful merchant families who run the place.

The afternoon sun of early spring is cold in the blue, crystalline spring sky as I walk in the shadows of the city's buildings. The sunlight was welcome after three weeks of non-stop rain. Not that there was much light where I was walking. There is little land available here, so people build upwards, creating narrow trenches of shadow and darkness we call streets and in Gensmot, the higher your towers climbed upwards, the greater your social standing. The Great Families in their seven great towers rise higher than everything and everyone here, but many lesser towers emulate, or mock, those great artifices. At the very top of the blunted mountain of stone that is Gensmot Island, squats the Ziggurat; that step sided monstrosity where the Great Families hold court and plot against each other. Every few years they elect the Doge from among the Seven. Each Doge holds on as long as they can before the other families cut them down with their infighting and intrigue that is as cold, twisted, and as serpentine as a dragon's back. Personally, I avoid the Great Families if at all possible, but that is not always possible.

The city sits on an island, a two mile long (3.2 Km) rounded hump of bedrock that raised itself out of the confluence of three large rivers. The nearest shore is over a quarter of a mile away (400 m), thwarting all who have desired to seize it. It is called by other names, the "City of Towers" for the spires that reach upward like daggers thrusting into the belly of the sky, or the "City of Stone" ever since the Great Fire gutted the city two hundred years ago and since then building in anything other than stone has been forbidden and the "City of Fountains" because of the ornate and bountiful basins in the city. It has also been called the "City of Adventurers" in reference to the number of freebooters who make the city their first port of call. For the last ten years, I have called this place my home.

In a narrow building, hardly wider than the tips of my outstretched fingers is Moogy's herbal shop. This was my destination for this morning. I was a frequent customer of Moogy's, coming every first day of the month to buy ingredients. Moogy sells the black lotus blossom, sure, but he also sells several incenses and herbs that are very useful in my occupation. There is no sign above the door, and no exterior windows to let any light in from the outside. The door itself a warped piece of wood, the green paint faded and streaked from age and it groans as I force it open, dragging its bottom edge against the stone floor. The interior is lit by tallow candles that give the place a pungent, but not unpleasant aroma. I stop dead in my tracks when I see the three customers standing before the counter. Moogy, an ugly amalgamation of human, orc, and elven blood is behind the counter in his apron fawning over the illustrious visitor who was none other than Lord Valker. Valker is commonly called "Lord Stargazer" for his passion of looking at the stars on top of his middling sized tower with his Dwarven made farseer device. The other two with him were brutish half-orc bodyguards in black leather armor and carrying clubs and long daggers. Both were huge, ugly, and scarred from their time in the fighting pits. They scowled in disgust when they saw me, but I did not take it personally, I knew they hated everyone equally.

"Ah!" Exclaimed Lord Valker as I stopped suddenly in my tracks. "It is my old friend, Barrim! So nice to see you, my boy."

"Lord Valker," I said, giving the stargazer a bow of respect as my heart dropped into my boots. He raises his hand toward me and the skin on the pale frail hand sticking out of his heavy red velvet robes is mottled with age and the fingernails are long and sharp. He has a longish face, also mottled with age spots and white thin wispy hair wrapping his head in an ephemeral white cloud. I have dealt with Valker in the past, and I know that this is not him, but in the interest of not dying, I play along and take his cold hand in mine and bow again. I have wards set up to protect my shop from evil types, but I cannot ward the whole city.

"How fortunate am I," the wizened old man said with a honey-dipped smile and a voice dry and brittle with the coming grave, "that I would chance run into such a dear friend today. However, I must chide you for not visiting me. It has been too long, my dear friend. You must come and visit me and quite soon, too."

"Far be it for someone like me to take up your valuable time, Lord Valker," I replied with a fake smile of my own and a third humble bow. I knew there was no chance this was a random encounter, but I hoped maybe I could beg off from seeing the old man, but it was not to be.

"Nonsense!" Lord Valker exclaimed with feigned conviction. "You are always welcome, my dear Barrim. In fact, I insist you must come this very evening, just after dark and we will catch up on what you have been doing."

"This evening, Lord Valker?" I asked, trying to keep the dread out of my voice while giving me time to think.

"Oh yes, yes. This very evening, I am most keen to hear of your comings and goings. I am insisting, my friend, so there is no getting out of it."

"Just after dark then," I acquiesce with not a little trepidation.

"Excellent," the old man says. "I will send my carriage around for you."

"You are most kind, Lord Valker," I reply and the old man gives me a reptilian smile.

I make room to the side so the old man and his two brutish thugs leave the shop without saying anymore with a grinding of the door that was slammed so hard bottles on the shelves rattled.

"Well, ain't you important now," Moogy says with mock adoration. "Hobnobbing with the likes of Lord Valker, just like a proper toff."

"I would rather kick a bugbear in the balls than have anything to do with a tower dweller," I muttered darkly.

"You can do that down at Freddy's, he's got one there as a bouncer." Moogy offered with mock helpfulness.

"Shut up, Moogy."

I absently gathered the things that I had come for from Moogy and then I headed for my alchemy shop, where I lived in the back. My shop and home is a single story building with a basement and the crown of a broken tower rising on one end like a rotten tooth with a hole in it. My mind rushes along like water going over a waterfall, once I had put to bed the blind panic that was threatening to seize my mind I began to think again. I had several reasons to believe that I would not be killed outright. First, I had to conclude that Valker would not have invited me so publicly if he meant to kill me outright. Oh, I know that was not Valker, but his agent, but that agent would have been following Valker's orders. Second, if Valker had wanted me dead, there were a hundred people in this city that would kill me for a handful of copper coins and no questions asked. But the idea that Valker wanted to see me to ruminate about my life was ludicrous, which meant that he needed me for something and that thought did little to ease my worries.

When last of the golden red sunlight disappeared from the pinnacles of the city's towers, I was sitting on the steps of my shop. I had been sitting there for an hour already, watching the gloom grow ever deeper as the sun went down. I idly wondered if the sun was really a solar barque sailing around the edge of the world, mostly to keep me distracted as I waited and hoped against hope that the carriage that was to take me to Valker's tower would never come, a desperate reprieve for a, possibly, condemned man. But it was not to be as I heard the clatter of hooves and the rattle of metal-shod wheels rolling over the cobbled streets coming from the darkness. Two lanterns appeared at the end of my street like great yellow eyes that swayed back and forth like a great lumbering beast was heading my way. The carriage, driven by one of the half-orcs stopped in front of me and the driver gave a jerk of his head as an order for me to climb inside. With a sigh I did so, only to find the other half of the duo sitting inside waiting for me. I sat opposite of him and we stared at each other, my brown eyes staring into his black little pig-eyes in the light given off by the enchanted light fixtures inside the carriage. I had met, and vanquished, a hundred like him before and I found myself more than a little insulted that these two crude thugs were sent to see that I followed through with my promise to attend Lord Valker.

The carriage rolled to a stop in front of a round tower some hundred feet high (30.5m), its top, unlike most of the towers of the city was not covered with a roof, but remained open to the sky. This was to facilitate Lord Valker's passion for star gazing. The heavy oak door at the base of the tower swung open with a minimal amount of noise, attesting to it being greased regularly. The woman who opened the door was a redhead with hair the color of the morning sun cascading off her shoulder and down her back. Her dress was emerald green, to match her eyes, and diaphanous as if to show contempt for the cold night air of early spring. The ephemeral nature of the dress showed off her flawless white skin of her long legs and ample bosom. Her green eyes flashed as she smiled at me in welcome. It was a serpent's smile, cold and heartless and predatory.

"Welcome, Lord Wizard," she greeted me in warm tones that seemed to be notes of a musical scale.

"I am hardly a Lord, Maid Shassani," I replied with mock politeness.

"And I am hardly a maiden, Mage Barrim," Shassani smiled at her own double-sided joke.

"But you always remain a vision of loveliness," I replied, still playing the game.

"You are too kind, Mage Barrim," She replied as she gestured for me to enter the pit of despair that was the Stargazer's tower.

Just inside of the door, a staircase wound its way up, following the wall in its curving rise to the top of the tower. Shassani walked beside me carrying a pewter candle enchanted with a Continual light spell to light the way. We were alone now, and I could drop the pretense of politeness.

"I assume it was you at the apothecary shop this afternoon." I said to the being who called themselves Shassani. For a split second the vision of absolute beauty vanished, to be replaced with a tall, gaunt figure with bulging eyes and the domed skull of a doppelganger.

"Of course," Shassani purred, the feminine form returning.

"Smart trick," I said, "having the Stargazer being seen in the daylight."

"It is convenient for dispelling any rumors that might crop up," Shassani replied nonchalantly.

"Was it an accurate representation of Lord Valker?" I asked the doppelganger.

Shassani lips formed a pout as if I had offered her a grave insult. She replied with a snappish, "Certes it was. Well, minus the red eyes, of course."

"Of course," I agreed. I grew ever more worried at to what plot was being hatched and how I fit into the damn thing. I did not delude myself into thinking I was a valuable enough playing piece in whatever game was at hand that I wouldn't be sacrificed early on for some perceived advantage.

We finally made it to the very top of the tower. Shassani looked at me as horse trader might look at questionable horse they have been offered for a sizable sum. I did not give her the satisfaction of showing any shortness of breath from the long climb up the stairs, although a trickle of sweat dripped down my back under my wool cloak. We exited onto the top of the tower, and a cold south wind of early spring brought the smell of a hundred hearth fires to us. Valker's tower was on the north side of the city, half way up the big hump of rock that was the city's foundation. The seven great spires were lit like beacons with the careful placement of Continual Light spells around their exteriors to create islands of lights in the darkness. Valker's tower was dark as the inside of a tomb except for small oil lamp with red panes of glass glowing feebly on a nearby table. Next to the lantern was a book written in a language I had never seen before and it sat on a pile of parchment and vellum with neat handwriting and mathematics and diagrams of star constellations. I assumed those had been written and drawn by Lord Valker since a bottle of ink and quill pen were nearby and he had spots of ink that showed up like black mold on the white skins of his hands. An intricately detailed Dwarven made far-viewer made of bronze was pointed at the open sky stood next to the table.

Turning away from me with a bemused look on her face, Shasanni formally announced our arrival, "Lord Valker, Mage Barrim is here for his audience."

"Please, please," I heard Valker greet me, "come over to the far-viewer."

I followed Shassani, staying inside the circle of light given off by the magical candle as if it might offer me some form of protection, a foolish but instinctive reaction to being in a predator's den.

Lord Valker is not tall. The top of his head only comes to my chin, but his frame is solid and robust, or at least it use to be. Now, it seemed time had grabbed ahold of him in a death grip as his weak and pallid form shuffled into the light. It was the same man from all appearances that I had met in Moogy's shop earlier in the day, except for the eyes. His eyes glowed with a red light like a cat's eyes shining in the night. They were red with blood hunger held under control by the iron will of a seven hundred year old vampire.


	2. Chapter 2

I had discovered Valker's secret by accident one night several years ago when I failed to see his reflection in a piece of glass. My curiosity got the better of my common sense when I decided to investigate the matter further. In short, I was caught prying but I was, surprisingly, not killed immediately. I did however spend several paranoid months locked up in my cellar with every offensive spell I knew ready and every magical device I had gathered from ten years of adventuring by my side. After months of sleepless terror, I began to live somewhat of a normal life, although it took two years before I would go out after dark. In the five years I had known his secret, Valker had never made a move against me, but twice before this night I had received instructions from the doppelganger that Valker wanted something done and whatever the task was I did it to his satisfaction. I did not relish those tasks, but if you are wondering why I did them or why I did not tell anyone about Valker, then you are a bigger fool than I. For two years I had heard nothing from the vampire and I hoped I had been forgotten. Such was not my fate, apparently.

"Mage Barrim," the vampire voice grated out the words with effort, "it is good of you to come."

"You honor me with your invitation," I replied politely with a bow. "I assume you have some service you wish me to perform. I am an alchemist by trade, but I cannot believe you have a need of any potion I could brew. So I must assume it is my former occupation as an adventurer than interests you, but there are many adventurers in this city and many of them are more capable than I."

"Perhaps," the vampire said as he smiled a wicked smile, "but none as discreet as you. I need you to retrieve something for me. It will not be easy, but I have every confidence you will succeed."

When I had first learned that Valker was a vampire, I made inquiries about him. The tower had, according to the city's legal document's had been bought by one of the current occupant's ancestors two hundred and fifty years ago and had been passed down to some distant relative who would show up from time to time to claim his inheritance and another Lord Valker would rule over the tower. The family was known to be long-lived. I, of course, knew that there were no distant relatives waiting for their turn in the tower, but a vampire who has carefully hidden himself away from the world while remaining in plain sight.

"What is this item I am supposed to fetch for you?" I asked, perhaps a bit warily.

"Are you familiar with magical artifacts known as Bloodstones?" The vampire asked me in his frail, hoarse voice.

I looked to the part of the sky the far-viewer was pointed as I knitted my brows together as I dredged my memory.

"I seem to recall a legend about a king…King Ivanisla of Dorvia." I spoke slowly as I recalled all of the details that I could. "His crown, blessed by a deity, had three stones. One of them was a Bloodstone, a large ruby that acted something like a ring of regeneration, but also gave long life. The other was a diamond that functioned as a true seeing stone, piercing all illusion. The other stone I don't remember off hand."

"It was an emerald," the vampire informed me, "that gave the king the power to cure disease if he laid hands on a person."

"Such powers would go a long way to stabilizing a kingdom," I said thoughtfully, "having an apparent direct blessing of a deity. It should have resulted in a dynasty, but I don't think King Ivanisla got to enjoy a long life."

"He did not," Valker explained. "The crown Ivanisla was given was a direct refutation and in response to the Hand of Vecna gifted to King Crecie by a priest of Kur called Serpis to aid in Crecie's conquest of the northern realms. In return for the gift, lands in the Ashie Valley were given to the priests of Kur so they could build a temple to Kur. Crecie marched against Ivanisla and defeated him with a dread army in the Ahsie Valley, the blood of Ivanisla and his men were used to consecrate the land, if I can use that term, to Kur the Malignant by his High Priest Serpis. However, the Temple was never built as King Crecie was killed and his army routed by an army from the West, led by the Emperor Hasis that arrived on the field of battle the day after Ivanisla was killed. They buried Ivanisla in a mountain tomb at the head of the valley. His crown was buried with him since he had no sons left, all of them having fallen to Army of Kur."

I watched Valker as he recounted the story, his eyes were not focused on anything, but gave the appearance of someone who was recalling events instead of reciting something he had read.

"I take it you were part of that dread army that defeated Stanislas," I spoke up, more than half-guessing at Valker's role in the tale.

"Did I not tell you he was perceptive," Valker turned and said to Shassani in an approving tone.

"You did, M'lord," the red haired woman said airily, "but I wonder if such perception is healthy."

"Capable men are always dangerous men," Valker replied. The two were talking as if I were not there. "But I think we may be in need capable and dangerous men."

"Only, ones we can trust, M'lord."

The continued in that vain for some time, discussing whether my merits were worthy enough to let me live, but I knew what they were really doing. They were warning me not to misjudge my worth them or my status in the coming game. How did I know it was a game? Tower dwellers always play games, especially with people's lives. It is the power over others that they crave most of all. But the exchange itself interested me greatly. Why did they feel they must resort to such subtleties in the first place? I was no match for the vampire if he came for me and he and I both knew it.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you wish me kill me or do you want to talk me into retrieving the damn Bloodstone?" I asked in a waspish kind of way as I was tired of their game.

"I want you to retrieve the Bloodstone," Valker stated not at all ruffled at my tone, "I will provide you with the funds that you will need and provide a map to the location of Ivanisla's tomb."

"I have not accepted the task," I replied stupidly stubborn. The doppelganger gave me a dangerous look.

"You will," the vampire said simple with a dismissive wave of his hand. "You know I do not play games or bargain and you also know that you do not want to become useless to me. I have the habit of getting rid of useless people."

I could have made a stand on principle, the gods knew I wanted to, as I have never liked being pushed around, but I do have a particular fondness for breathing and I wanted to keep doing it. I nodded, accepting the defeat of my pride.

"The Ashie Valley is many leagues from here," I replied, "and the spring rains will have made the few roads in the northern reaches impassable, not to mention trying to ford streams and rivers full of rain water. It will take me several weeks to organize such an expedition, I cannot go alone, and I will need a full party and wagon guards. This will not be cheap, it will not be easy, and it may not even be possible."

"You have a reputation for getting what you want, Mage Barrim," Valker said in his dry, flaky voice. "I have confidence in your abilities, but I want you to begin this venture as soon as possible with no unnecessary delays."

"Is the mission to be kept secret, or can I openly call for adventurers?"

"It is most secret," the vampire said. "It is imperative that no one knows of your quest."

"That will complicate things," I replied. "Also, anyone I recruit will expect to reap the rewards they find along the way. To put it bluntly, except for the Bloodstone, the adventurers will take everything they can carry, plus they will expect to be paid a reward if they return with stone. That is the standard deal with adventurers."

"I have no need of treasure," the vampire said with a shake of his head. "All I require is the Bloodstone, so they may keep what they find and Shasanni will see that they are appropriately rewarded."

I calculated quickly what I thought the cost of the expedition would be and then I said, "I will need two thousand gold crowns to get the expedition outfitted and equipped."

"That is a princely sum," Shasanni said pouting and obviously unhappy about the amount I had quoted.

"The Ashie Valley is far away and the way there is as dangerous as anywhere in twelve realms, and it is more dangerous than most. If I am to have any success, then I will need the best people and the best people will have to be convinced to go somewhere that isn't conducive to long life. Therefore, they will need to be persuaded. So the two thousand crowns are only the starting price, it will cost more in the end, but if you want the Bloodstone, you will have to pay a steep price. There is no navigating around that shoal."

"I will pay the cost," the vampire said in a tone like a lord talking to a lazy vassal, "but I want the Bloodstone."

"You will get my best effort, Lord Valker," I said, somewhat put off by someone thinking I would not give my best, even if my best is coerced. "If it humanly possible to get the Bloodstone, I will."

"Of course, you will," Valker replied. "Of course, you will."

"I take it I will be handing the stone over to your heir when I arrive back in Gensmot."

"He is too clever, M'lord," Shasanni said in a dark, emphatic tone. "Too clever by far."

But the vampire just smiled his cold smile again and replied, "Yes, as you can see, time has caught up with me and I will soon leave this mortal world. I have sent for a distant relation, he is my heir, and he should be ensconced in this tower by the time you get back."

The vampire was not going to die, of course. He was simply shedding his skin and putting on new face so people would not suspect his true nature. His present condition was the result of abstaining from blood. A vampire's apparent age, if he was well blooded, would be the same as when he was turned. The lack of blood caused the vampire to age, but they would revert to their younger visage if given enough blood. By the looks of him, Valker had not fed in many weeks. He would not die if he did not feed soon, but he would become dormant and take on the appearance of death. Once everyone was convinced he was dead, a new Lord Valker would appear in Gensmot.

"Shasanni," Valker ordered, "arrange for Mage Barrim to receive a ride home."

It seemed my audience with Valker was over, and none too soon for my taste. The doppelganger made a motion for me to follow her and I did so. We descended the staircase in silence. My mind was racing and I practiced the deep breathing exercises to quell the anxiety that threatened to take over my mind. As I child, and even as a young man, I would find myself in a state of excitement that would stop my mind from working and my body would shake as I gasped for air that only a moment before had seemed so plentiful. A chance friendship with a follower of the Way of Chan gave me a set of breathing exercises that I used to calm myself. I had not had a reason to use this technique in a long while.

Once we were at the entrance to the tower again, I turned to the doppelganger and said, "Your patron seems eager to have this endeavor begin as soon as possible. But it will not begin until I have the gold."

"I will arrange for the gold on the morrow," Shasanni said in a serious manner. Gone was the flirty demeanor. In its stead was the cold and calculating manner of someone who was sizing up a potential threat."

"Good," I replied. The carriage rattled up to us and stopped. It had the same bullies that it had before. I climbed in and we took off with such a sudden start that I fell into my seat instead of being allowed a more dignified action of sitting down. I was angry, more at being forced into this adventure than the indignity of falling on my ass. I expected to find amusement coloring the scarred face of my guard but he was not paying attention to me at all. In his hands he held a loaded crossbow as he stared out into the stygian darkness with such a harsh intensity that made the cogs in my brain start to turn.

I kept up my Chan breathing exercises to clear my mind, as some primordial part of my brain recognized that I needed to focus on what was going on at this very moment. I quieted my mind, calming the emotions of anger and frustration, and allowed myself to become aware of the things around me. I noticed the rattling of the carriage wheels against the cobblestone. We were moving fast, faster than we should have been. I then became aware of the darting eyes of my guard as he stared out into the darkness and I realized he was on the lookout for someone, or something, in the darkness. The night was cool, but a bead of sweat trickled down from under his bowl-like helmet and the knuckles of oversized hands were white as they gripped the crossbow. These realizations revealed to me that these big, scarred bruisers were scared of something and that knowledge jerked my mind around.

The guard turned to look at me as I let out a breath with a rush and sucked in a new one, striving to keep my mind clear so I could assess the danger I was in at this moment. I had not gone to see the vampire unprepared. I had a full list of spells that I had prepared for combat. Even though I knew I could not defeat a vampire and his flunky on his own turf, I was not going to go down without a fight. But coming back to the present, I decided, if we were attacked, to open up the festivities with a light show and so had my lightning bolt spell ready to go in an instant. I had learned from experience that the flash of the spell did as much good as the actual bolt of electricity since it tended to blind eyes adjusted to the darkness, and in particular those eyes that had some sort of night vision were most grievously afflicted when I used the spell. Inside my robes I had a wand of fireballs tucked into a convenient place and I had my dagger on my belt.

Being as ready as I could ever be if violence descended upon us in the dark, I allowed my mind to go back to gathering information. I thought of the reaction of the doppelganger to my revealing I knew of Valker's efforts to hide his identity by assuming the role of his own heir. I thought that it was an overreaction on the doppelganger's part. Something was wrong. I didn't know what, but the doppelganger was worried. If the doppelganger was worried, it was fair to assume that its master was worried as well. That begged the question, what could worry a vampire? The answer to that question would come from a very short list of possibilities. Whatever, was going on, I did not like it and I truly hated the fact that I was in a game I did not know the rules to, nor did I know who all of the players were.

However, despite my new found anxiety, we made it back to my home and alchemical shop without incident. I was barely out of carriage before the two half-orcs were racing away back home. I stood in the pool of light that illuminated the sign advertising my shop. I had placed that continual light spell myself, more to advertise my wares than for my security. I realized then that I could not see past the circle of light and the darkness beyond its edge was complete and somehow more menacing than usual. I heard the sound of the carriage fade away and the silence creep back in, only to be broken once again by the sound of a dog barking furiously some distance away from where I stood. I unlocked the door to my shop and quickly went inside.

I did not sleep that night, but lay awake on my cot thinking about the meeting with the vampire and making mental notes about the necessary preparations needed for a long expedition to the northern mountains where the Ashie valley lay. I knew of the valley by reputation, and that reputation was not one to make someone want to visit the place on a lark. I decided we would go in strong, with a group of tough adventurers. I also decided that I damn sure wasn't going to rough it all the way there and back. Lord Valker's gold was going to pay for some luxuries on the way. When I could see the sky turning light through the small glass windows of the building, I heaved myself off my cot and got out some vellum and my quill and ink and began to make notes at my desk. I wrote a couple of letters and sealed them. These I would send to the sages of the White Tower in Thrace. I had questions and I wanted answers. Answers I hoped would help clear away the fog surrounding this adventure and answer the question as to why a vampire wanted a bloodstone.


	4. Chapter 4

Not long after the sun was upon the peaks of the towers, my helper, Lenni, came into the shop. Lennie was a mediocre mage, but a fine alchemist who, despite his perpetually disheveled appearance, was meticulous and precise to the point of obsession with the ingredients we used. This resulted in a large number of generally finicky potions coming out perfect. Lucky for me, he had no talent for business, nor did he desire to acquire any. He just wanted to brew potions. He gave me a silent lift of his chins to acknowledge me and then hung his dirty gray cloak on a wall peg and then he walked behind the counter, well more of a waddle than a walk, since he was very short and very fat. He had a fringe of dark hair turning silver on the tips that encircled his bald pate and a week's worth of whiskers on his jowls. His blue tunic was covered in stains from a hundred sessions at the brewing station and a hundred more meals. His pants were brown and just as disreputable as his tunic. The shoes on his feet had come from two different pairs of shoes.

"I am going to be leaving in a couple of weeks," I said without preamble. "I will be gone for some time, maybe a year if things don't go well."

Lenni scratched one of his chins and asked, "Why are you leaving, boss? You know I am no good with keeping accounts."

"I am going adventuring again," I replied. "I can't really speak about it, but I will set up an account with one of the moneylenders, they will pay the rent and track what you spend and give you your wages. I will also get Moogy to send over whatever ingredients you ask for and bill the moneylender. You will just have to brew the potions and sell them. No credit, remember that."

"I do not like this at all, boss." Lenni grumbled.

"Me neither," I replied. "It cannot be helped, I assure you."

Lennie shrugged and went sullenly to our work station behind the counter and lit the fire under one of our alembics. He would pout most of the day, which would normally irritate me, but I had bigger problems to worry about now. I looked over our shelves that lined the walls of my shop. Glass, ceramic, and metallic jars and flasks lined those shelves, filled with the potions Lenni and I brewed. Overhead, hanging from the ceiling by chains, brass pendulums enchanted with continual lights spells cast their magic illumination over the shop. The shop was rectangular, running from north to south. The front door Lenni had come through was near the north end of the shop, facing west, while the counter butted up against the south wall and covered about half the thirty feet (9 meter) between the two walls. The room was twenty feet deep (6m) and a plain wooden door behind the counter led to short hallway with a door on either side leading to my chambers and to a storage area. In the open space at the end of the counter was a round table with five chairs arranged around it. None of the chairs matched, but I did not care. Behind the table was a fireplace that shared its chimney with another fireplace in my chambers. Attached to the south side of the building was the ruins of a tower that had collapsed fifty years ago, or so I was told.

Just before midday, the door opened and someone I had never seen before came in, a man of middle years, not tall and very plain and ordinary in his appearance and dressed in common clothes that were clean but somewhat worn. In all, he was totally unremarkable, but someone I felt like I knew him.

"How may I serve?" I asked the traditional shopkeeper's greeting.

The stranger glanced over at Lenni who was taking no notice of us before handing me a large oilskin pouch. He did not speak and I opened the pouch to find a note authorizing me to freely draw upon Lord Valker's accounts at the Gold Noble, a moneylender's establishment. The pouch also contained detailed descriptions of the Ashie Valley and where to find the tomb of King Ivanisla written in the cramped style of Valker's handwriting. It was at that moment I realized that the nondescript man standing before me was the doppelganger. My heart, which had held out a forlorn hope that the business of last night would come to naught, fell into my boots when I realized my quest was going onward.

"Thank you," I said to the man, "I will begin on this order as soon as possible."

The doppelganger nodded, still not speaking and left.

"I will be in the cellar," I told Lenni who responded with an inarticulate grunt.

The entrance to the cellar was through a trap door in the corner behind the counter. I went down the steep stone steps aided by one of my enchanted lanterns. A few food items, like onions and dried sausages hung from the floor joists, along with numerous dried herbs. There was a barrel containing a firkin of dark ale against the wall at the bottom of the stairs and along the wall just to the right of the stairs were sagging wooden shelves filled with various bits and pieces that needed a home over the years and against the back wall stood a battered oak wardrobe.

It was this wardrobe I was interested in, although I had not opened it for years. I spoke the words that negated the Wizard Lock spell that held the double doors shut. Inside that box were the remnants of my life as an adventurer. A life I thought, had hoped, I was done with, but fate apparently had other plans for me. I stood before those closed doors, not wanting to open them and cursing bitterly at being forced to take up the adventuring life again, but then I swallowed my anger because I knew it was a luxury I could not afford. I snatched the doors open angrily and the hinges squealed from long disuse as I opened the double doors to reveal the wardrobe's contents. Hanging from a peg inside the wardrobe was my gambeson, a thickly padded garment of linen that I wore for protection. Metal armors interfere with magical energies, so I had to wear a linen gambeson, but linen was a tough fabric and offered more protection than one might think. It had once been a very light buff color, but time and a life of adventure had stained it to a dark brown. The leather straps were dry and curled and needed looking after and I made a mental note to grease them soon. My helmet, shaped like a blue soup bowl was made of paper and lacquer. Again, one would think it would not provide any real degree of protection, but the paper came from the pulp of a type of mulberry tree that was particularly fibrous, and the lacquer bonded the layers together to make a tough and resilient material. Obviously, it was not as tough as iron or steel, but it was better than nothing and it had saved my life on several occasions. On another peg, there hung my sword belt with my short sword hanging down like a burdensome weight. Some people are surprised that a wizard would carry a sword, much less know how to use one. One of the benefits from wearing these things is that I looked like a fighter and not a spellcaster. Spellcasters are always a priority target in melee fighting, so I wanted to look like something other than a mage and my armor, helmet, and weapons have saved me before. I picked the sheathed sword up and drew the blade from the scabbard that was made of wood covered in plain, dark brown leather. The hilt was worn from use and it fit my hand perfectly. The guard was a disk shaped like a shallow cup with the walls of the cup pierced through with a geometric pattern of diamonds and the single edge of the slightly curving blade was razor sharp. It had come from the Eastern Realms, a gift from my monk friend, Chai when we had been conscripted into the Stassi army together. It was he who had showed me how to use it.

I set the sword aside and pulled out my knapsack. It too was made of leather and showed signs of neglect and the wear of dozens of escapades in the dark, dank places of the world. Inside the pack were essentials needed by an adventurer that included long lines of string, fishing hooks, a small belt knife, a bowl, cup, and spoon made of tin, a sewing kit with a dozen needles of various sizes. There was also a small hatchet and a tinderbox with flint and steel and a miniature enchanted lantern, barely the size of the palm of my hand, but just a bright as one of my normal sized lanterns that I sold for a silver penny in the store. It was shuttered to cover the light when darkness was preferable. Tied in a bundle were strips of leather and rawhide, which had a thousand uses in camp, and a stoppered gourd for carrying water. In addition, I would add various articles of clothing and food to the pack before I left, although I planned on taking at least one large wagon on the trip to carry the necessary food.

Sitting on the bottom of the wardrobe was a small locked chest. I pulled it out and set on a nearby table made from planks of wood lain across two sawhorses. I unlocked the box with a key that habitually hung around my neck to reveal the yellowed paper within. These were spells, magic beyond my ability to cast or spells I had never bothered to learn.

The magic spells we wizards know are written down in symbols, a kind of meta-language that some say is the tongue of dragons or even from one of the divine beings. Whatever their source, the symbols are not human and were never meant to be understood by man, which is why the mage must rest and restructure or re-power their spells every day as the symbols fade from our memories. Wizards divide the spells into levels based on the complexity of the symbols. The quest for more powerful spells is the twisting of the mind to accept more complicated symbols, which at the very least leave the pupil with splitting headaches and have driven some mad. I had reached a point in my studies where I could work some powerful magic and the head-splitting headaches were not worth the effort to learn more powerful spells, especially since I was no longer adventuring.

I carefully went through the box, carefully choosing spells I thought would be useful, but which I had never before seen the need to know. There would be pain as I learned them, but the thought that some suffering now might mean life later, especially in the Ashie Valley, was a strong motivator and I resigned myself to the pain. There were four leg bones, from an ox or horse, that were hollowed out and sealed at one end wood and beeswax and had a tight fitting plug at the other. Two of them contained my old maps, but inside the other two were spell scrolls I had carried as back up in case my own magic became exhausted, but I also carried scrolls useful spells that could facilitate the overcoming of some obstacle. I had learned the hard way that when I was loaded with combat spells, there would be a grave need for some utility spell and if I was loaded with utility spells, combat would soon arrive. A mage's mind could only hold some much of the alien symbols that were used to make magic, so these scrolls were my compromise to that dilemma, even though they were expensive to make. I replaced those spells I didn't want and then noticed a black folio volume I had long ignored. I pulled the small black book from the bottom of the box. In it, I knew, lay the spells of necromancy. I had bought the folio from another adventurer some years ago, just after I had found out Valker was a vampire. My thinking was that it might help me deal with the undead. I gained little from pages within, other than a deepening of my revulsion for that branch of magic. I kept the little book and I shut up the rest of the papers and locked the box.

I gathered up the things I needed and took them back upstairs where Lenni continued to ignore me. My customers were slow coming in this morning. My sales, which were primarily to adventurers, have been slow since the Orcs of the Nine Tribes had been warring with the Gnolls of the Skarr Mountains. Most adventurers went to the north and west, over the Camber Mountains, which was a westward reaching branch of the Skarr Mountains, but with Orcs and the Gnolls at war, that way was only tried by the most foolhardy of adventurers. Travel up the cost to the Wild Lands was just as treacherous, more so from the navigation than monsters or pirates, although those could be plentiful.

I spread my maps out on a spare table and consulted my numerous notes I had made over the years. Any number of adventurers would pay a bagful of gold coins to get a look at one of my maps, as they were filled with the locations of ruins that could be looted and it clearly marked a number of dangers that could be avoided in the Wild Lands and beyond. I had drawn in most of the information myself, although some came from the maps of others. My maps, using old navigation techniques of the Varanians, were much more accurate and my notes were more extensive than any other maps around. Gensmot lay, as I have said at the confluence of three large rivers called the Boll, the Larrius, and the Felchen, that when combined formed the Greater Felchen that continues on southerly course to the Middle Sea. These three rivers come, more or less, from the North, the West and the East. The Ashie Valley was in the northeast, tucked between the arms of Camber and Skarr mountains like it was being embraced by the two mountain ranges. Legends tell it had been a lush and beautiful place before it had been despoiled by a great evil. It has enjoyed a foul reputation since that time and my maps were lacking in detail as I, and no one that I had ever met, had ever gone there and come back. Valker's notes gave many details to look for, but I had to take into account that these remembrances were over seven hundred years old, and much can change in that time.


	5. Chapter 5

I rolled up my maps and placed them in my rooms in the back of the shop. The next step to be taken was to find Dimitri. Dimitri is the most scandalous thief, swindler, liar, and the most notorious rogue in a city of rogues. He is also my best friend and one of the two people in the entire world that I could really trust. Together we have faced more danger, more excitement, and more trouble than I care to think about. We both retired after our last fiasco of an adventure that saw only three survivors, those being myself, Dimitri, and Chai the Monk. We lost some good friends then and the three of us decided that our luck was about used up. Chai returned to his monastery in the Eastern Lands, while Dimitri and I came back to Gensmot. I took up the trade of alchemist and Dimitri became a painter of signs, at least officially. I had settled comfortably into my retirement, but Dimitri had not. Dimitri loved excitement and even the thrill and danger of burgling in a city where thieves were tortured to death if caught, he was bored. He gambled and drank way too much, and took way too many risks with the city guard that wanted more than anything else in the world to slam him into the city's torture chamber. So far, Dimitri has stayed one very short step ahead of them.

I told Lennie I was going out and received another grunt in reply. I drew on my blue cloak and left my shop. My problems were weighing on my mind and I made the critical mistake of not paying attention to what was going on around me again. Therefore, I missed the two men that were following me. I went to the Golden Noble, a moneylending house and drew out twenty gold pieces and twenty silver crowns from Valker's account. I then began my trek through the city looking for Dimitri.

My wanderings took me through the crowded, narrow streets of Gensmot. I dodged the pickpockets, cutpurses, and the piles of horse manure that added their aroma to the overwhelming medley of smells of a city full of half a dozen different species of people, their languages mingling into the cacophony of street life noise as I made my way from one dingy tavern to the next, leaving word that I was looking for Dimitri. Without exception, the barkeeps were rude and gruff and only a third of them even acknowledged that they had even heard of Dimitri.

Late in the afternoon, my search was proving fruitless, and I seriously doubted the barkeeps would tell Dimitri I had been looking, despite paying them some copper pieces for the effort. After my ninth and last tavern, I got a flash of brilliance and I bought a patron there a pint of beer and then I asked him if there were any big betting events happening in the city. The old man rubbed the gray stubble on his weather beaten face with gnarled, dirty hand and told me there was a big fight between a human fighter and an Orc in the Pits just after sunset. I thanked the old man and left the tavern in the direction of the Pits.

The Pits were holes dug into the solid rock from when a limestone quarry had operated on the island a long time ago. The island was actually riddled with tunnels and rooms, either for the sewer or as storage areas like my basement. The bottoms of the fighting pits had been filled with sand and they were now used as gladiatorial fights for those people stupid enough to want to beat each other to death. There were numerous booths being manned taking bets or selling questionable food. The only thing positive I could say about the Pit's fights is that they were not rigged since it is hard for a contestant to throw a fight and not get mutilated or killed. The Pits were on the southern-most tip of the island and I made way down the streets, soon joining with the throng that was making its way down to watch the fight. The sun was still up, but only barely, and a chill spring wind was blowing. I pulled my blue cloak tighter around me and I pulled up my hood against its chill.

The main fight was going to take place in the biggest pit, since there would be more room for public viewing, but there was several opening fights including one that pitted a warg against a snow cat. I did not like to see these fights, they sickened me to be honest, and I bet on none of them. Dimitri was less squeamish than I was, and he would bet on anything, so I reasoned that he was here, or he soon would be here.

The crowd filled the area, despite the cold wind blowing, and everyone seemed to be talking loudly to everyone else at the same time. I have never liked crowds and this one was no exception. I was uncomfortable and a bit anxious as I moved through the press of humanity, holding tight to my purse. Occasionally, I would feel the fingers of someone else searching only to have the person snatch their hand back when it contacted my own. Suddenly, I felt someone tugging my cloak. I turned to see who it was and was greeted by a face I vaguely remembered. It was face ravaged by the Black Lotus, with the white of the eyes a jaundice yellow and the skin of the face sallow and sagging. The strings of red hair that still clutched to his mostly bald head were turning gray, although he was not old. The hand the was still hanging to my cloak was shaking and it was connected to a skeletal arm that led to once broad shoulders that had carried the weight of chain hauberk through a dozen wars and a dozen years of dungeon crawling. It took me a very long moment to recognize the face of a fellow adventure, a fighter with whom I had passed over the Camber Mountains to search for one of the lost cities.

"Rolf?" I asked not sure if the emaciated scarecrow in front of me was really the doughty fighter I had adventured with.

"Friend Barrim," the former fighter replied, "Can you help me."

I was wary since I knew that was the beginning of a request for money. Black Lotus eaters were notorious beggars.

"What do you need?" I asked, dreading the reply.

"Can you buy this ring from me?" Rolf said as he easily pulled a ring off his fingers. "It is magical."

I looked at the plain silver band he placed in my palm and I doubted it was enchanted, and I did not want to buy it, but I looked at the desperation written plainly on the face of my erstwhile adventuring companion. It was not hard to deduce that this was the last bit of wealth the man had. He was not even wearing a cloak, and was shivering in the cold. Maybe it was magical and maybe I knew that any silver I gave him would only hasten his death by the Black Lotus. Still, someone would still buy it, probably at a fraction of what its silver content was worth and Rolf would still fall down the same black hole."

"How much do you want for it?" I asked.

"I will sell it for ten Gold Nobles," Rolf said, eager at having someone that might be interested.

"That is a lot of gold for a ring of silver," I replied.

"Naw," said Rolf, "It's a Ring of Regeneration. It will keep you alive."

I felt like I was caught between the two horns of the same bull, as the old saying goes. I wanted to help Rolf, but I knew any help I gave him would only be temporary at best, and would likely hasten his demise. The softer side of my nature won over my more pragmatic side and soon, with numerous thanks from Rolf, I was wearing the supposedly magic ring on my left hand, since I already had an alchemist ring on my right and I did not want their magic to interfere with each other, not that I had much faith in what Rolf had said. I parted ways with Rolf and continued my search for Dimitri.

I found him just before the main fight started. He was leaning casually against the wall of a betting booth talking with several other disreputable men who looked as if life had been exceptionally cruel to them. By the set of their shoulders, they were not happy and I had a quick premonition that Dimitri was the reason they were not happy. His casualness was a little too perfect not to be a feint. Dimitri was not tall, and he was lean with a saturnine face and long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. His gray eyes flashed between a sort of amusement, a predatory look, and look of someone trapped. Dimitri was a complicated person.

"Give us what you owe us, thief," one of the men demanded, his tone was filled with the promise of violence.

"Mennus, I am waiting until after the fight," replied Dimitri cheerfully, "and then I will gladly pay you twice what I owe you!"

"Enough of your lies, thief," the second man said. "Pay us now, or will cut the meat from your bones and sell it the Pit's animal keepers for food for their beasts."

"Hello, Dimitri," I called out and all three of them turned to look at me. A smile just touched the corners of Dimitri's mouth when he saw me approach.

"I have been looking everywhere for you," I said as pretended to be oblivious to tension between the three men. "I have the money I borrowed from you."

"Your arrival is most opportune," Dimitri said, "for if you have the twelve silver crowns I loaned you, then I can repay my debts to these gentlemen, and we can all be friends again."

"Indeed," I replied, "I have the full amount"

I counted out twelve silver half-crowns into Dimitri's palm. Twelve silver crowns that were immediately snatched from his hands by the one called Mennus.

"Since you have your money," Dimitri said in voice full of hollow goodwill, "we can part company now, Mennus."

Mennus and his companion said nothing but responded with a grating sneer and turned away toward one of the betting booths.

"Well met, Friend Barrim," Dimitri said to me with a smile and warm handshake. "Your timely arrival and generosity have saved me from a rather unpleasant encounter. You must be fairing quite well to be dropping such riches on a worthless reprobate like myself. I am hoping that your largess was the result of a need for the best delver in the business."

A delver was thief that specialized in adventuring, for they delved into ruins and the underground places where nimble fingers and a quick eye were always useful.

"It is," I replied, "and I do."

"An adventure," Dimitri's smile widened at the word, "you have an adventure for us."

"Yes, but we must keep quiet for we have a patron who does not want our quest to be known to anyone."

"Then we must act normally," replied Dimitri still smiling. "Let us attend to the fight, wager our money, and drink too much of the cheap beer they serve here. We will be just two friends who have come down here for the sport and not two adventurers about to embark on a secret quest."

I had the distinct feeling that I had just been swindled into paying for Dimitri's night of entertainment, but I could not fault his logic.

"Oh, cheer up," Dimitri replied in mock seriousness. "We stand to make some coin tonight."

"How so?" I asked him.

"Do you know who is fighting tonight?" Dimitri asked me and I shook my head to the negative.

"It is none other than our old shield brother, Breywester," Dimitri said. "He is fighting an orc."

I cussed and spit when I heard that name. It belonged to an adventurer we had campaigned with in the past. As a fighter, he was without peer. As a man and a boon companion, he was pond scum, as far as I was concerned.


	6. Chapter 6

When I looked up from my tirade, I saw the lopsided grin on Dimitri's face and I stood up to my full height and look indignantly down at my much shorter companion. His long blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and like mine it was just starting to show a little gray at the temples, although my gray showed up more. The laugh lines around brown eyes and full mouth had deepened. The collar of his white blousy shirt was frayed, as was the cuffs. In fact, all his attire, including his scarlet cloak and brown waistcoat, of which he was usually very fastidious about, was in dismal state for someone who ran to vanity like Dimitri.

"Why are you smiling?" I demanded. "You know as well as I what he did."

"I am not smiling about him," Dimitri replied. "I am smiling at your outburst. I knew the moment I mentioned his name what you would do, and I was right."

"The man is a gutless fool." I spat out.

"You will get no argument from me about our erstwhile companion's moral bearing," Dimitri, "but I do plan on making some silver off of him."

"You are not going to bet on him, are you?" I demanded, starting to get angry.

"Friend Barrim," Dimitri said as if he like a sage pontificating on some tidbit of great wisdom, "one does not allow emotion to get in the way of making silver. If Brey gets his skull split, I will certainly not mourn for the bastard, but we both know how good he is in a fight and no orc will best him no matter how many victories he has won in the pits."

I could not fault the cold logic of my friend, and judging from the condition of his clothes, I doubted Dimitri could afford the luxury of righteous indignation as I could. The world was hard and I have never condemned someone for surviving, even if I disagreed with their methods. I gave a short, jerky nod to acknowledge my friend's logic.

"Let us place some bets and reap what is sure to be a suitable reward," Dimitri said in a magnanimous tone.

"From the looks of your clothes," I retorted, "you have not been reaping many rewards lately."

"Ah," Dimitri said in a tone of mock suffering, "such is the vagrancies of luck and fate. However, I am sure that my losing streak is about over."

"Do you have any coin to bet with?" I asked. "You had better not steal anything, I see at least two of the city watch paying a lot of attention to you."

"Indeed, they have been," agreed Dimitri. "They always watch me because I am their most favorite person in all of the world. I bring some cherished excitement to their otherwise dreary lives. Not that the ungrateful bastards would have stepped in to save me from Mennus and his bullies."

"So where are you going to get the coin to bet?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"I am going to take an advance on my wages for our adventure." Dimitri responded matter of fact voice.

"That is where I though you would get it." I replied in an ironic tone.

"Are you going to place a bet?" Dimitri asked me.

"I could not bear to place a bet on that…dung heap," I replied angrily.

"Then I will place a bet for the both of us, and we shall split the winnings evenly between us."

"So I get to wager all the money, but I only get half the winnings?" I asked exasperated.

"Yes, because of your cursed sense of right and wrong. You must suffer the loss due to your over-developed conscience." Dimitri replied once again in his sage-like tone.

"This does not sound fair at all," I replied.

"Just think of your half of the loot as being a windfall, since you would not have even placed a bet if it was not for me." Dimitri said holding one finger in the air to emphasize his point.

"Interesting logic you have there, Dimitri." I replied to the delver.

"It is indeed, very interesting," agreed my friend showing no remorse or shame.

"I am still going to cheer for the orc to split his skull," I replied several moments later as we headed to a betting stand with a crowd of noisy people shouting to be heard. The odds of the fight were written on pieces of slate nailed to a board behind the stand. The orc, who had a string of victories to his credit, was a favorite to win by two to one as Brey was an unknown to most of the people here.

"I would expect no less from you," Dimitri agreed as he deftly snatched the purse from my belt.

The main fight of the evening started just after Dimitri placed the bet. The crowd gathered together around the edge of the pit in the glow of a hundred smoking torches. I could smell the unwashed bodies of the people as they pressed in close and shouted and cheered their champion as their thirst for bloo had not been satiated by the blood that had already soaked into the sand from hundreds of previous fights and the crowd was wild with the prospect of seeing more spilled tonight. There were two entrances into the pit, both were tunnels with iron gates that would be locked once the combatants had entered the pit. Once someone entered a pit, they didn't get leave except as victor or vanquished.

Through the smell of the unwashed bodies came the aroma of a delightful perfume. I turned to look and saw a small slip of woman wearing a veil make her way through the tightly pressed crowd. Her clothes were those of a commoner, but they were obviously new and she did not wear them comfortably. She was, I deduced, from one of the richer families who had decided to come down to the pits to slum with the masses. This was not an uncommon occurrence. In fact, I could pick out half a dozen toffs in the crowd from where I stood. Just then, the noise from the crowd rose to a fever pitch and the crowd pressed in closer to the edge of the pit. Some of the spectators seemed in imminent danger of falling into the pit themselves, so close did they press.

Some orc, his muscular frame crisscrossed with scars that showed up evilly against his gray-green skin and bristly body hair. His eyes were deep set into his pig-like face and his face was as scarred and battered as the rest of him. He wore no armor or shirt, just leather breeks and thick hobnailed sandals, but he did carry a small round shield on his massive left arm and in his right he swung a heavy spiked flail with ease as if it were a baby's rattle. The crowd's cheering reaction to his entering the pit left no doubt he was their favorite of the hour. Once he was dead, they would find a new favorite, of course.

The entrance of the orc's opponent did not generate the same level of excitement when he entered through the gate on the other side of the pit, although there was some cheering. For me, the bile of hatred rose in my throat at the sight of the man. Brey was tall and well formed with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. His jet black hair hung down his back in a ponytail showing just a touch of gray at the temple. His face was handsome with high cheekbones and noble jaw. No moustache or beard covered his face, which was tanned and had ready laugh lines around the mouth and eyes. He was dressed in a pair of tight fitting black trousers, knee high boots of some expensive leather, and an immaculately white blouse shirt opened to show his muscular chest underneath. He sole means of offense and defense was his long sword.

Some rough folks on one side of the pit called down some insulting predictions of what was about to happen to him, but Brey simply smiled a mocking smile and bowed. Then came the first great crash as a wooden club was hammered into a much battered bronze chest plate, green with age except from where the club habitually struck it. The orc threw up his hands and roared with fury and anger and the crowd cheered him lustily. Brey turned to the veiled woman I had noticed earlier and made a silent gesture of acknowledgment along with a smile of a man absolutely sure of his own prowess The second clang came and the orc turned his attention Brey and roared again in an effort to intimidate him, but Brey simply ignored the orc's show of fierceness, and he only allowed himself to take on the look of someone ready for a battle he was sure he would win. When the third clang sounded, the fight would begin.

I looked over at the woman in the veil and her hand was at her mouth, clearly worried about Brey's welfare. Then came the final ringing clang came for the fight to start and I turned my attention back to the fight.

His flail whirling fast enough to send the flames of the nearby torches dancing, the orc marched forward with deadly intent. Moving faster than someone that large should be able to move, the orc took a skipping step forward and brought the spike flail down hoping to drive his opponent's head into his shoulders or split it apart like an overripe melon, but Brey simply rolled forward coming back onto one knee and the spiked flail hit the bottom of the pit with a spray of sand. Brey took his longsword's blade in his left hand, with his right hand still on the hilt and jammed the point into the orc's left thigh.

The orc bellowed and turned, more angered than hurt, and swung his flail horizontally at Brey's head. If the crowd had not been roaring like an angry ocean surf, I bet I would have heard the flail whistle as it blurred through the air. But Brey's head was no longer there as he ducked under the blow at the last moment and then sprang forward with a two-handed lunge that was meant to spit the orc. But the orc was too canny a fighter, and he let the momentum of his swing spin him completely around, pivoting on his left foot and ending back facing his opponent and his flail circling overhead his shield ready. He brushed aside Brey's thrust easily with his shield. The crowd roared with approval as I read the surprise in Brey's eyes at the deftness and dexterity of his opponent. Brey had underestimated his opponent, a fact he at that moment realized, and he set his mouth into a grim line.

A bit of vindictiveness rose up in me, alright it was more than just a bit, and I thought maybe the orc had a chance to take Brey, but I should have known better. In the next exchange, when the orc was about half-way into his skip-forward attack, Brey launched his own attack. Brey deftly brought his sword up as if to parry the flail, allowing the chain wrapped itself around the tapering blade of the longsword. This time Brey spun, raising his sword and the entangled flail up over his head and as he spun and then he "threw" the chain and flail head off the blade sword, with a quick flicking action and the chain easily slipped off the tapered blade. This action caused the orc to be over-extended while Brey's maneuver had placed him behind and just to the right of orc. Brey's blade never stopped and it rose in a graceful arc to slam down with a great spurting of blood and the crack of bone and gristle. The orc fell down, its ugly face twisted with pain.

The crowd, who had mostly bet on the orc, gave a loud and indignant cry at the failure of their champion. I saw Brey give an oft-practiced nonchalant salute to the veiled lady who was obviously excited and pleased at her champion's success. The gate Brey had come through crashed open and several men, obviously a part of the staff, rushed in and started pounding Brey on his back as they escorted him out. Except for those hurling insults at him, everyone ignored the dying orc. The crowd dispersed, most to commiserate their loss, but a lot few of them, like Dimitri, went to get their winnings. I watched the last of the crowd of spectators spit down at the orc in the pit in contempt. The orc looked up, in full knowledge that his death was imminent, but he refused to beg for mercy and the gate from which he had emerged stayed shut with no one coming in for him.

I do not know why I did what I did next. I learned a long time ago to carry a healing potion wherever I went. That simple habit has saved my life more than once. Now, I pulled a disc-like silver flask filled with my most potent healing potion from under my tunic by the leather cord that kept it around my neck. I tossed it into the pit and it landed right in front of the orc's face.

He looked at the flask and recognized it for what it was and then looked up at me, defiance in his eyes and a hatred for any act of mercy being shown to him as his people took mercy as sign their enemy does not respect their strength. But he did not see any pity in my eyes or on my face. He saw only someone who thought his life was worth something. Slowly, the pain he felt evident, he reached out with his left hand and took the flask and removed the stopper with his teeth before drinking the potion. Healing potions, as necessary as they are, do not offer their benefits without cost and I could see the orc's body tense as the pain increased to an almost intolerable level as the potion took effect. The pain a healing potion brings is very intense, but does not last long and I could see the orc's body relax as the pain faded and bone and flesh began to knit back together.

The orc would live, but I did not think the amount of potion I had given him would be sufficient to heal his wounds completely. It was all I had, so I turned to find Dimitri.


	7. Chapter 7

The crowd was breaking up into knots of people that were mostly complaining about their loss of coin and the brevity of the fight. They cursed their former champion for his failure as enthusiastically as they had cheered him a short while ago. I paid little heed to their cackling as I moved through them. I am tall enough to see over the heads of most people and I caught sight of Brey speaking with the woman I had noticed earlier. His back was toward me and I could see sweat sticking his shirt to his skin. That was interesting, such a fight as that would scarcely have merited deep breath when I saw him last, but Brey had either been winded or scared, and I did not think the latter likely. Either way, he was still as brilliant a swordsman as ever. I saw him remove the woman's veil to give her a kiss. I recognized her from somewhere, and it took a moment to recall she had been at Wil Marlet's side at the last Mid-Summer festival. They had married a few months before that. A new chick for an old buzzard I remembered thinking at the time since he was nearing his sixty fourth winter and she had barely reached her nineteenth. Brey was playing a dangerous game because the Marlet family was one of the seven great families, although it was his brother that held the highest seat in the house and represented them at the Ziggurat. Dimitri found me just then and gave a jerk of his head to follow him and I left the crowd and Brey behind, hoping I would never encounter either of them again, just as I was hoping to never have to come down to the pits again. The last two years had seen me withdraw more and more from the chaos that is Gensmot and the world and, like Lenni, I had insulated myself as much as possible from others unless it was to deal with them as a customer.

Thirty minutes later, in a loud and rambunctious tavern, I finished giving Dimitri the details of the quest we were to set out upon, leaving out the vampirism of our patron, of course. All around us there were the sounds of merriment and the rough humor of the working people of the island. It was a tavern well used and well loved by its patrons and it was a decent enough place, clean and serving a good beer. It was made of stone with high pointed arches lifting up the slate roof. The noise covered our conversation easily enough and we did not draw attention to ourselves. Candles burned in sconces on the wall and on the tables. The thick stubby candle on our table had melted mournfully, cementing the thick candle to the wooden plate that held it.

"Valker's a strange one," Dimitri said as he brought his mug of beer up to his mouth.

"All of the tower dwellers are queer," I replied with a shrug. I held an identical mug in my own hand.

"That is not what I meant," Dimitri explained as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Did you know a thief by the name of Grib?"

I shook my head and said, "By the use of the past tense, I assume this Grib is no longer in the land of the living?"

"No," replied Dimitri, "he got caught by the city watch breaking into the vault of a money lender. There was no trial for him."

"Moneylenders are not known for their charity, nor their forgiving natures," I replied in knowing tone. "Anyway, what does he have to do with Lord Stargazer?"

"Indeed," my friend agreed with my assessment of the moneylenders before he continued. "Grib spotted some large boxes being brought to Valker's tower over several nights last summer. There were brought in six to a wagon, or so he said. He got curious and looked inside two of the boxes. All he found was dirt. Boxes of dirt. Now, tell me that is not strange."

I know as much about vampires as any man since I have, for obvious reasons, sought all the knowledge I could about them. It was not hard to figure what those boxes were for, but I did not know why he needed so many of them. More alarming, I knew that if Valker or his henchman knew my friend possessed this knowledge he was a dead man.

I looked intently into the eyes of my friend and with a deadly serious expression on my face I asked him, "Dimitri, do you trust me?"

I could see the look of bewilderment cross over my friend's face at the question before he answered me.

"We have been companion for years and we have saved each other's lives more than once, and yet you ask me if I trust you?"

"Listen my friend," I replied in low tone, not that there was any chance of being overheard in the crowded tavern, "beside Chai, you are the only person in the world I trust. I need to know something. Did this Grib tell anyone else and, more importantly, did you tell anyone else about the boxes?"

"I do not think Grib told anyone else," Dimiri replied, matching my own quiet tone. "He was killed shortly after telling me. I certainly never told anyone. In fact, I had forgotten about it until just now."

"Good!" I replied emphatically. "Let me tell you as much as I am able. If Valker knew that either of us were aware of those crates, the chances are that neither one of us would live another week. I cannot tell you why, and the gods know I wish I could, but telling you any more than I have means certain death to the both of us. That is not an exaggeration. Valker has his secrets and he will kill anyone that discovers them."

"You obviously know his secrets," Dimitri countered, "and yet you are still alive."

"I was, I believe, allowed to live as a test. Valker needed an agent with certain abilities and experience, but also one who could keep his mouth shut. Had I told anyone what I know, I would have been killed years ago. You are a smart fellow, Dimitri, and you may very well figure out why Valker has his secrets. If you do, do not tell anyone. Do not even speak of it to me, and if Valker does not know that you know, you may yet live."

"Why are you working for the man?" Dimitri demanded of me. "After the death of Leeana, and Maken, you swore you would give up being an adventurer."

"The honest answer, and I am not ashamed to admit it, is that I am afraid of Valker."

"The number of times I have seen you afraid," Dimitri said, "I could count on one hand. I assume this fear comes from the secrets you know."

"Those secrets are exactly the reason I am afraid of him," I replied seriously. "Anyway, I am going to look for the Bloodstone and I hope you are still willing to go with me."

"Of course I am going," Dimitri snorted as if I had said something almost too stupid to be answered.

"Where are you two going?" Gustave the Brave asked in a drunken slur. Gustave had been given that title for the elaborate stories of his life of adventuring, which always showed him to be the hero of the party. His days as an adventurer are a long time past, but he stilled like to associate with adventurers. I guess he had been successful, because he always had money for beer and ale, and he was far too lazy to work. His fat round face was florid behind his grey beard. Stringy gray hair snaked out from under his disreputable black fur hat. His belly strained against a wide leather belt wrapped around his midriff and his tunic was blue, but a lighter shade than his trousers that were like the sky at dusk. An old dagger hung precariously on the belt.

"To Madam Lotta's place," Dimitri said easily with a smile. "We figure her girls can help us spend the coin we won at the pits tonight."

"Oh certes, they will help you spend all you won and more besides," the fat old man said as he sat down like bag of wet sand next to Dimitri. "Had some luck tonight, did you?"

"We did," Dimitri replied. "The fight did not last long, but it was profitable for us."

"Hmmph!" Snorted Gustav. "The fights at the pits are all short these days. All of the good fighters have been hired by the Families as bodyguards."

"They must be worried about the vampire," Dimitri said nonchalantly.

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"You have not heard about the murders?" Dimitri asked me.

"I have heard nothing of vampires," I said so emphatically Dimitri looked at me funny.

"It has been happening for weeks now," Gustav slurred out the explanation. "People going missing in the night and then found dead with not a mark on them, if they are found at all. Mostly it is the toffs that have lost family and servants. I am surprised you have not heard of this."

"I do not socialize much these days, so I must be behind in my gossip," I replied my mind running quickly along lines of thought. "What makes you think this is the work of a vampire?"

"It would not be the first time we have had problems with a vampire," snorted Gustav.

"What problems did you have before?" I asked quickly.

"It was a long time ago," Gustav said looking expectantly into his mug, "and it is a long story and my mug is about dry."

"Let me get you another," I said as I raised my hand to catch the serving maid's eye. I pointed to our three mugs in the universal and eternal sign of wanting more beer.

The wench, the large buxom wife of the tavern's owner brought over three full mugs and Gustav took his with an exaggerated thanks and took a big drink of the brew.

"Well now," Gustav said with a belch, "what was I talking about?"

"You were going to tell us about the vampire problems you have had in the past," I supplied.

"That is right," agreed Gustav, "that was a long time ago now, when I was younger and fitter. Just like now, people disappeared and if they found the bodies, they wouldn't have a drop of blood left in them. All pale and white they were with eyes wide open and terror plain on their faces. The city leaders offered a large bounty and we hunted every dark corner of this city looking for the fiend. It was Lord Valker who finally tracked the damn thing down for us, although he did not join in the fun of the fight."

"Where did you find him?" Dimitri asked.

"Her!" Gustave said in a loud voice. "The damn thing was a woman and we found her hiding in the basement of one of the dockside warehouses! We damn near burned the docks down when we fought her. Jon Wakefell got his fool throat ripped out when he charged in with that rusty old sword of his. He always claimed it was an enchanted blade, but it weren't."

Someone that I did not know, a bald man with a gray drooping moustache that was obviously a laborer by his clothes, sitting, at a nearby table heard the bombastic Gustave and added his two coppers to the conversation.

"Aye," the bald man said, "I remember that time very well. Folks afraid to go out after dark and me own parents would check the door locks and window latches a half-dozen times every night and it is happening again, like enough".

Others in the bar took up the subject and the mood darkened noticeably as they discussed the recent murders.

"Gustav," I said to the big man as he did his best to reach the state of inebriation in the shortest time possible, "You said it was the tower dwellers that are being targeted?"

"Them," Gustave replied, "or their people. Lord Bellock lost his personal man-servant last week, or so I have heard."

"Did they have bite marks," I asked, "the ones that were found, I mean?"

"Nobody has said so," Gustav replied and then tipped his mug upwards to drain his mug.

"Lord Valker helped us the last time," Gustav said, "but I do not think he will be of much use to us now. Neither will I, neither will I. Too old, you know. You had dealings with the old buzzard recently, or so I heard from that ugly herbalist."

"Moogy talks too much," I muttered.

"What did that bag of bones want? Gods, he has been creeping around that tower of his since me own granddad was a nipper."

I had to improvise a story on the spot, so I thought as quickly as I could.

"I can only tell you if you promise not to tell anyone else," I said, knowing full well that Gustav would spread the information halfway to Empire of Stassi before the sun set on the morrow.

"Oh aye," Gustave said eagerly as he leaned in toward me, "you be having me word that I will not tell a soul."

"The old man is dying," I lied. "He has been keeping himself going by taking longevity potions, but they are not working anymore. He wanted to know if there was something I could do for him. A new potion I could brew up to keep him alive. I told him no, and he was not happy with me, I can tell you true."

"I figured that's how that piece of old crow bait kept himself alive for so long. But it sounds like time has finally caught up to him," Gustav said as if the idea was his.

"That seems to be the way of it," I responded.

"I have to piss," Gustav announced and got to his feet, more than a little unsteady and left.

I sat back in my chair and let the conversations buzzing around me fade into a background noise. Dimitri looked at me shrewdly but said nothing. My mind whirled and dipped at the information I had been given. I did not think Valker was the one responsible for the murders. When I investigated Valker years ago, I deduced he obtained his victims from the city guard who gave him condemned prisoners so as not to betray his nature. Besides, he had obviously not fed for many weeks to be in the condition he was in when I saw him yesterday evening and there were the two guards who escorted me last night, so he did not think he was immune to attack. I suddenly realized I had been a fool insulating myself from my surroundings as much as I had and important, that is life threatening events, had started unfolding that I was unaware of and that was bad. You cannot prepare for something if it surprises you. It is what you do not know that usually kills you in the end. There was no coincidence, of that I am sure, that I had been asked to get the Bloodstone by Valker, but I did not know how this information fit into the game Valker was playing .


	8. Chapter 8

The news that Valker had helped track down a vampire did not surprise me. Vampires are predators, and like most predators they would be territorial. In Valker's case, he had blended into his surroundings, successfully passing himself off as a human and another vampire would be dangerous to the charade he was playing. The question now was if another vampire was in town or if something else was afoot.

I broke my reverie and looked over at Dimitri who was studying me intently. I said to him, "We are going to need a wagonmaster. Is Alfred still in the business?"

Alfred Barlson, if you could afford him, was the best damn wagonmaster an adventuring party could get. Most new adventuring parties think you can just up and walk to some dragon's lair, kill it and then walk home with the treasure. All of the easy treasures have already been found, therefore you have to plan to travel some distance. That means a wagon full of supplies, food, tents, and other essential gear like shovels, picks, and axes that are far too heavy to carry on your back. You can also camp out on the ground under the stars, if you don't mind being wet and miserable all the time, and yes, you can hunt along the way, but that takes a lot of time and there is no guarantee you will be successful. But there is also the question about what to do with your horses and wagon while you are crawling around some Drow infested ruin? You hire a wagonmaster and some guards otherwise you will find your horses and gear missing, or your wagon and gear destroyed and your animals slaughtered. A wagonmaster is also in charge of the camp meals and organizing the security. A good one like Alfred is worth whatever he charges.

"He is not," answered Dimitri. "However, his son Godfrey has taken over the business and by all accounts is very capable."

"Do you think he is available?" I asked.

"I would say so," Dimitri replied. "There are not many parties going out right now so I think he has been idle and is probably ready to go out again."

"You want the job as my Second?" I asked Dimitri. The term "Second" simply referred to the assistant leader. Dimitri gave a simple nod in response.

"Can you find Alfred's son and come to terms with him? We will also need guards."

"Godfrey should know who is available, and if he does not, I am sure his father does. He still keeps up on what is going on with adventurers." Dimitri said as he drained his mug.

"That is good," I replied, "because we are going to need to recruit some party members. The Ashie Valley is no place to go without a full group. You can handle the delving, and I can handle the magic, but we are going to need fighters in addition to the wagon guards and at least one healer. A ranger would be useful as well."

"The town is flush with adventurers right now," Dimitri said in response. "Getting a party together should not be difficult.

"There is a complication," I said as I drained my own beer.

Dimitri raised his eyebrows, his face asking the question that I answered by saying, "Valker wants this to be a secret expedition. No one can know where we are going."

"They only way we can pull that off," Dimitri said rubbing his chin in thought, "is we have to have a decoy mission. The knowledge that we are going on an adventure will leak, it always does, even if no one in the party talks. Everyone in this city knows when an adventuring party is about to head out, just by what they purchase and how they act."

"Do you have any ideas about how to set up a blind?" I asked.

"Maybe," Dimitri said. "There are in town a brother and sister from some small village. I heard their parents died and they spent what little inheritance they had to buy one of those worthless map to the Fallow Fens that Greedlie sells the foolish and the uninformed because they are determined to be adventurers. We could pretend to back them and we could let that info slip to cover our real plans. It will make for a good laugh among the people here."

"We will have to work it as double blind," I replied as my brows furrowed as I thought it through. "We are too experienced to fall for Greedlie's map and people will know that, so we tell people it is a ruse and we let it slip that we are really headed to the Grimm Marches. The Fens are to the east, and the Marches are to the southeast of the city. We will head east, turn south on the Great Road and go until we reach the ferry at Everfall. We cross the Felchen there and then take the road from Everfall to Crestwell to help create the illusion that we are going to the Marches, but we turn north just before we reach the confluence of the Marn and Briarbuck Rivers. We will skate along the edges of the Orc tribes' territories."

"Alfred and his boy will have to be told of our real destination," Dimitri pointed out. "They would not be happy about being deceived, but they both know better than to talk and I believe they can be trusted."

"All right," I agreed, "but no one else must know."

"Agreed," Dimitri stated. "I will contact Barlson tomorrow."

"Fine," I replied. "Do you know where these low-levels with the map are staying?"

"No, but I can find out easily enough and tell you that tomorrow, as well."

"Good," I said standing up. "I will see on the morrow."

"'Til then, Friend Barrim."

I left the tavern, which had shaken off its dark mood about the vampire and the missing people and had returned to its boisterous state. I threw my hood over my head as a cold rain was falling and began my trek home in the dark. I came off the Street of Potters and saw the light hanging above my door offering a false beacon of safety. My mind, free of distractions returned to what Gustave has spoken of, and foolishly, that was the result of my misfortune. So deep was I in my thoughts I was caught completely unaware by the sand-filled bag of leather that crashed down on my skull.

Stars exploded in my head and the blow drove me to my knees, but it did not give me them the courtesy of knocking me out. Someone, apparently, knew their business and the blow left me helpless as kitten but still able to talk. I was dragged into a nearby alley by at least two men dressed in black.

"Force his head back," I heard one of the men growl out the order and someone grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled my head back. My vision was swimming and I could only see a vague silhouette against the slightly less dark street. I felt the cool glass of a bottle being pressed against my lips and I had enough presence of mind to clamp my mouth shut, but it did little good.

"Make him open his mouth," the same man spat at his companion.

A thumb that felt like a spike drove itself deep into nerve in neck and I involuntarily cried out in pain and the man giving the orders poured a foul, bitter liquid that tasted like boiled skunk piss into my mouth. I almost gagged it out, but the man holding hit the same nerve and took it all in the potion, half of which seem to pour down the wrong pipe and into my lungs. This was the first mistake they made. The potion was powerful and my mind went fuzzy as it twisted around. My alchemist brain told me what to expect. This was a potion meant to force a person to tell the truth.

"What did the Stargazer want with you?" Demanded the black silhouette in front of me as the potion did its work and my brain started to force my mouth to speak the truth even though I fought hard against it. But using a potion on an alchemist is a mistake. I already told you that I wore and alchemist ring. What that does is it protects alchemists from being poisoned by their own ingredients since some of the things we use are extremely poisonous and more than one alchemist has died from the mixing of harsh ingredients. The ring did its work, and I could feel the potion's effect fading.

"Valker is dying," I croaked out the lie I had told earlier. "He has been using potions to prolong his life, but they are not working anymore. He wanted me to brew him something, but I told him I could not."

"What else?" The same man demanded.

"Nothing else," I slurred the words deliberately to mimic the effect of the potion.

"Get rid of him." The voice said.

"Finally," I heard the man whisper behind me. I was dragged to my feet and a white hot burst of fire exploded from my back as the man's dagger thrust itself into my left kidney. I tried to scream, but he held my mouth shut. My consciousness faded out as I was dragged over to a sewer opening thrown down into the rain water rushing through the sewers. My consciousness faded completely from me as I fell down the cold, dark hole. That was their second mistake.


	9. Chapter 9

At first I thought I was dead and that death was cold with the absence of all light, but then I figured death probably would not be as filled with as much excruciating pain and misery as I was currently feeling. As my thoughts clarified, I took stock of my situation. I remembered the attack and the toss down into the sewers. The rain water that had rushed through the sewers had dropped off and I found myself lying on my back on the slime covered stone floor of the sewer with maybe an inch (25mm) of ice cold water trickling past me. I needed help and I instinctively reached for the healing potion I kept around my neck only to curse myself for a lowborn fool when I realized that I had given it away to that orc in the pits. Then it occurred to me that the dagger's wound should have killed me, and certainly, that wound hurt like hell, but I was alive. The ring Rolf had sold me must have been a genuine Ring of Regeneration after all and that I had lived long enough for its magic to work. I tried to move but pain flared through my back and into my skull like liquid fire. It is better, I reasoned, to lay here in cold misery until the ring had more of chance to heal my wounds. I began my breathing exercises, deep breaths slowly released to ease my anxiety and fear and to help me think. I became more aware of my surroundings as I did so, the sound of water trickling down from the streets above sounded almost musical dripping from the ceiling and I became aware of a rhythmic slushing sound. I realized after a few moments that the slushing sound was getting louder. What could it be? When the answer came to me, I rolled over onto my belly and forced myself to my knees despite the agony those motions caused me.

Sobbing with pain, I began to crawl against the feeble current of water that ran in the sewer, while behind me the Gelatinous Cube inched itself forward. The sewers in the city had several of those monsters in them, deliberately put there by the city leaders to consume the waste of the city, and for the most part they did their job keeping the city clean of its waste, but now I was on its menu. I crawled, my hands slipping on the slime of the sewer occasionally sending my elbow slamming down on the stone painfully, but which faded to insignificance when the pain from my dagger wound flared in protest. But I kept crawling in desperation, just barely keeping ahead of the slow moving, but inexhaustible thing that moved behind me.

There was no time in this black pit, just fear and darkness and pain. Eventually, my hand landed on a stone step used by the city's workers to access a side tunnel (They used flaming torches to keep the cubes at bay). Using the steps, I was able to put my feet underneath me and stand up. I went up the stairs and staggered into the side tunnels. The walls were rough, but not quite as slimy as the floor and I used them to keep upright as I staggered onward.

After some time, I was too tired to go on and I leaned against the wall to rest. The sound of water running into the sewer had gotten louder, so the rain must be back. The side tunnel I was in was more or less dry except for residual puddles of rainwater. I knew I needed to find an exit for if the rain came down hard, the sewers would flood again and I could very well drown. As I rested, the slushing sound of Gelatinous Cube came again. It had followed me down the side tunnel. It must be detecting my body heat, and easy thing for it to do in the cold dampness of the sewers. With a whimper, I began to move again.

I staggered along and fell down another set of steps as the side tunnel I had been walking in opened into a larger tunnel. I landed with a cry in the now ankle deep water of another major tunnel. I used the steps to once again gain my feet. I had no way of know which way I should proceed since I was lost and I had no light nor did I have a light spell prepared. My spells that had ready were combat spells, but alas I did not have any spells prepared that would do much to the thing that hunted me. From experience, I knew the lightning bolts spells I had prepared to fight the vampire with would do little against the beastie. If I was to get out of this, I would have to think my way out and maybe use up some of my luck. I decided to go upstream against the current. I thought maybe the rising water might slow the cube down, more so than me. I would stay next to the wall, not only to use as a support, but to hopefully find a ladder out of the sewer.

I splashed along and the water was halfway to my knees when I heard the slushing sound again, but this time it was in front of me! Somehow the beastie had gotten ahead of me and was coming fast, helped along, no doubt, by the water pushing it. The ring had been working its magic all of this time and my unbearable agony had receded until it was just agony. I turned away from the thing pursuing me and went downstream. So desperate was I to escape that I almost did not hear the cube that had been pursuing me. The damn thing had not gotten ahead of me, I had simply ran into another one!

My breath was now coming short and fast and I realized that I was heading into one of my episodes. I sucked in a deep breath, held it for a few moments and then released it. I repeated this as the cube came ever closer, but I knew I had to keep the panic from taking over my mind.

Inspiration borne of desperation struck me and I stepped away from the wall and I cast my first lightning bolt spell, shouting out the arcane words, but not at either of the cubes, but at the ceiling as I turned my head away so as not to overwhelm my eyes. The sizzling arc of lightning lit the entire tunnel with a flash. I saw the downstream cube very close and coming toward me, the water slowing its movement. I turned my head and fired off my second lightning spell this time in the opposite direction. I saw the second cube farther away but coming faster, but I also saw another side tunnel, a black hole in the wall. I splashed my way over to the steps, at first thinking I had missed them in the dark and nearly succumbing to the panic that lay just under the surface of my thoughts. My shin found the steps first and I scrambled into the narrower and relatively dry tunnel. With both hands outstretched to support myself against either wall, I made my way as fast as I could forward. I had no idea of where I was going, but I knew I had to get away from the cubes.

I must have wandered for hours in the darkness for the pain from my wound subsided, which did little more than make me aware of how miserably cold and wet I was right now, but at least I could move faster than I had been doing. I pulled my wet cloak around me for whatever warmth it might provide as I stopped, panting. Ahead of me I could hear the sound of a lot of water rushing quickly and that told me I was near another major tunnel. I made my way slower and I felt the change in the air telling me I was in a large tunnel. I whistled and the sound echoed several times. I knew this must be the main feeder tunnel that ran down from the Ziggurat. The Zigg was on top of the lump of rock that made this island. I discovered there was a walkway along the wall of the tunnel so I decided to make way uphill. I made my way carefully upstream, for I did not want to fall in the rushing water because it would surely pull me down to my death.

I could feel the pathway beginning to rise under my feet as I walked. Suddenly, I saw something ahead I at first thought was my imagination, but then I realized it was truly a shaft of light. It must be daytime with the night passing away while I wandered what was supposed to be my tomb. I made my way to stand in the light coming down from a storm drain high up on the wall. I could not stop myself from smiling at seeing the light, but then reality came crashing in when I realized there was no way I could fit through the hole. There was nothing to do but to go on and so I left the light behind and went into darkness once again. My feet started splashing as the water crested over the top of the walkway. I hurried my pace as much as I was able.

Another shaft of light appeared ahead of me and I ran to it, but like the first opening, it was too small for me to fit through. I hurried on, the water was now just below my ankles and it was getting harder to keep on my feet. With my tired lungs burning and my legs wobbly with fatigue I went on until the wall on the left that I had been tracing with the left hand disappeared. I turned to investigate and found the opening to another side tunnel. The water was quickly rising in the tunnel as well, but it was not rushing and I was in no danger of losing my feet, just drowning. I kept in the tunnel until I received a drenching from an overhead tunnel that was funneling water down. My hand contacted metal and I found a metal latter, its rungs imbedded in the limestone walls leading up to the overhead tunnel. I hated the drenching, but a ladder meant it was a point of access for workers, so I climbed up the latter, to a smaller access tunnel with my head bowed to avoid a face full of water.

The access tunnel was not large, and I bumped my head against the stone ceiling. With a curse, I moved forward, bent over at the waist with water about half way to my knees. It was uncomfortable walking bent over, but it was just another misery piled on to the heap of miseries I was already enjoying. The water and the slime caused my foot to slip and crashed fast first into the water which promptly tried to push me back down the pipe the way I had come. The slime on the walls defied my clawing fingers and it was only by turning sideways and dragging both my back and my feet against the wall was I able to halt my movement. Carefully, clawing for every handhold, I got back n to my feet and made my way back up the small tunnel, being more careful this time. The tunnel turned and suddenly I could see. Several storm drains opened up to the sky and let a dismal, yet welcomed light into my dark world. I saw another iron ladder leading up the wall just a head. It disappeared into a shaft going straight up. My heart soared at knowing I had found a way out. And then I heard the rhythmic slushing sound of another gelatinous cube coming toward me from a branch tunnel to my right that I had not seen in the dismal gloom of the tunnel. I made my as fast as I could to the ladder. My fingers, raw and bloody from clawing my way up the tunnel grasped the cold iron of the ladder's rungs and I shouted in victory. I noticed then a lantern hanging on hook next to the ladder. I took lantern and opened the small doors on its face and the tunnel flooded with the light from a continual light spell that enchanted the lantern.

The gelatinous cube was just entering the tunnel. In its glob of an interior, offal and the bones of something or someone were easily seen. I also saw the glint of gold in its mass.

To be a successful adventurer you have to have the right instincts. Most of the time, you have to think your way through things using whatever brains the gods gave you, but you also had to have good instincts and something told me to look closer. I went toward the beastie and I saw a ring, a large golden ring, inside the cube. With my jaw clenched, I shoved my left hand into the cube and grabbed the ring. If you want to know what if felt like, bring a large pot of acid to a boil and then stick your arm in up to the elbow.

Screaming, I jerked my arm out and staggered toward the ladder. With one arm I began to climb the ladder and the cube followed me. I climbed into the darkness until my head impacted against the metal cover. It was locked and the cube was slushing its way up, no more than a yard (meter) beneath me. Once again I fought the blind panic and then remembered that I had prepared a Knock spell in case the vampire had taken me prisoner. With care and deliberation so as not to screw it up, I spoke the arcane words and cast my spell while hanging on with the elbow of my wounded arm. I heard the lock above click open and with some rattling, I got the bolt to fall out of the latch and I flung open the hatch and climbed out into the rain. I slammed the hatch back down quickly with my good hand.

I climbed to my feet and I looked at my left arm, still holding the ring in a death grip since my hand would no longer work at all. My arm was blistered where the skin was still extant. Muscle and sinew were plainly visible where large patches of skin had been eaten away. The silver of Rolf's ring gleamed coldly on the raw meat of my hand. The very drops of rain that struck the raw flesh were like needles of fire being driven into my flesh so I covered the arm with my cloak, although that hurt just as bad. I was halfway up the slope to the Ziggurat and I looked through the gray rain to orient myself. I just saw the broken profile of the tower my shop was attached to down the hill. With the last bit of strength that I had, I staggered home.


	10. Chapter 10

The only thing that kept my face from impacting on my own stone floor when I opened the front door of my shop was my much battered cloak catching on a nail. Lenni looked up at me a stark, blank expression on his round face. Dimitri and Shassani, in the same male guise it wore when it delivered the package from Valker, were sitting at a table near the corner. The doppelganger frowned at my state, but Dimitri, a true veteran campaigner, shouted at the slack-jawed Lenni.

"For Beffa's sake, you dunderhead!" Dimitri said invoking the name of the God of Thieves, "Get him a healing potion!"

Dimitri was out of his seat and at my side to help me to a chair. I removed the alchemist ring from my right hand by using my teeth to pull it off my little finger. Lenni fumbled around, his odd brain overwhelmed by seeing me so severely injured, and Dimitri snatched the healing potion out of hands and more or less poured it down my throat.

It was a strong potion, the strongest I had, and I braced myself for the shock to hit me and when it did the pain of my wounds increased exponentially, but my internal injuries and the skin on my arm grew back in the space of half a dozen quick heartbeats. There would be scars, healing potions did not prevent them, but I would return to health. During that process, I gritted my teeth until the pain eased, but I could feel that the potion had only been partially successful.

"Another," I croaked out and Lenni brought it over. This time, I lifted the stopper and took a deep draught of the potion. There was more pain, but not as intense as before, as I returned to full health. The skin on my left arm now possessed a strange mottling of scars, but I was pain free for the first time in many hours and that was a truly joyous feeling. My hand opened at last and the gold ring for which I had endured so much pain for dropped to the floor with a tinkle of metal on stone.

"What happened to you?" Dimitri asked me, his face a serious mask.

"Lenni," I said to my helper as I picked up the ring from the floor, "I am closing the shop today. Go ahead and take the day off."

"If you are sure, boss," he replied. "But tell me what happened?"

"I am sure," I said with a nod, "and I was attacked and burned by some robbers, that is all. I am okay now."

Lenni left after getting his things gathered and I locked the door after him. As I put my alchemist ring back on, I turned to the Doppelganger, who had said and done nothing since I arrived, and said, "This is Dimitri. He is my Second on this quest. He knows we are to go to the Ashie Valley, retrieve the Bloodstone, and return it to either Lord Valker, or his heir, if he does not survive to see our return."

"The mission is supposed to be a secret one," the doppelganger said as it shifted to guise of Shasanni. Dimitri jumped up from the table, his surprise was total and it was written on his face.

I sighed. I was tired and angry and I had no patience left in me and I snapped out, "And if I get killed halfway back how would the party know who to deliver the stone to? You need at least two people who know where you are going, what you are doing, and what you are supposed to do after you have done it."

"All right, but no one else," Shasanni said in hard, brittle voice of warning.

I did not bother to tell her how we needed our wagonmaster so he could properly prepare for our trip. We would just have wasted time arguing about it and I was not in the mood to dicker.

"Where have you been, Friend Barrim?" Dimitri asked me, changing the subject. That question was loaded with more than just curiosity of my delay. Dimitri wanted to know who he needed to kill.

"It was an ambuscade," I remarked as I stood up on legs so tired they were shaking from fatigue. I threw my soiled, disgusting cloak into the old beer barrel that was our rubbish bin. I took off my pocketed leather waistcoat to inspect the damage the dagger had done to it. A neat hole made by a needle-pointed dagger was quite evident where the waistcoat covered my back. The inside was ruined as blood had soaked into the leather. I heard Shasanni gasp when she saw the amount of blood that had soaked the back of my shirt.

"After I left you," I explained, "I walked back here and as I turned the corner from the Potters' street and I could see my front light, I was bashed over the head with a sap and dragged into the shadows of an alley. A Veritas potion was shoved down my throat and they asked me questions about the Stargazer."

"What kind of questions did they ask you?" Shasanni demanded instantly at hearing the news.

"They wanted to know why I was summoned to his tower," I replied.

"And what did you tell them?" Shasanni snapped the question out at me. I could hear the fear in her voice. A vampire and a doppelganger, if they were discovered, would be hunted down immediately.

"I did not give them any secrets," I replied shaking my head. I held up my right hand and showed her the ring on my little finger and I continued. "This is an alchemists ring, it neutralizes a lot of poisons and potions, and they made the mistake of not taking it from me. I was able to shake off the effect of the potion and tell them a lie. I told them Valker was dying after too many longevity potions and he wanted my help with a potion that would work, but that I had told him that I could do nothing for him. When I told them my lie they believed me and then one of them put a knife in my back and threw me into the sewers, where I have spent the hours since, Dimitri and me last talked playing hide and seek with the city's pet Gelantinous cubes."

"You obviously lost that game," Dimitri said referring to my partially dissolved arm.

"Not really, but that is a story I will only share after I have changed out of these clothes and drank a pint of beer and eaten a ration of bacon." I said to them as I walked toward the door of my private chamber to change my clothing.

Later, as I consumed my meal I elaborated on my story. Dimitri called me a bloody fool for tossing away my healing potion and he called me a lot less pleasant things when I told him how I retrieved the ring from the cube. I dropped the ring on the table and the light gleamed from its polished surface.

"This is a signet ring, but do you recognize the device on it?" I asked Dimitri and Shasanni.

"It is Lord Bellock's ring," Shasanni said with certainty. "I recognize the device on it."

"It is one of his rings," Dimitri said as he picked up the ring. "This one belonged to one of his under-managers, they are given these rings to signify they speak with Lord Bellock's authority. You can tell because there is a knotted rope around the device signaling that the person was bound to Bellock's service."

"There was talk in the tavern last night about how the vampire had taken one of Bellock's men." I said casually, but Shasanni's head snapped up to look at me, her face angry with wide staring eyes and lips pressed tightly together. Dimitri saw her reaction to what I said, but he gave nothing away.

"Have you heard about the disappearances of people around the city?" I asked Shasanni to explain my comment. "I have heard rumors that the Seven Families have been suffering from losses of people. Rumors are flying through the taverns and meeting places it is the work of a vampire. Obviously, it is the work of assassins. They are dumping the bodies into the sewers, letting the cubes take them.

"We have been aware of the disappearances," Shasanni said stiffly, "but we were unaware of the rumors of a vampire."

"The disappearances are reminding people of the vampire Lord Valker helped to destroy," I explained. '

"Indeed," Shassani asked, "what should we do about the situation?"

"I think it would be wise to tell the City's ruling council about the assassins. If people know what to be on guard against, it will make their work harder. But I need to ask you a question."

Shasanni raised her eyebrows, letting her eyes show she would take the question.

"Why are assassins interested in the Stargazer?"

Shasanni bit the thumbnail of her left hand as she thought about what she would say. Finally she spoke, "There are numerous machinations going on, in-fighting and the on-going and never ending quest to dominate the council by each of the families. I can only assume that one of the families is making a play for power in the most ruthless way possible."

I did not think for a single heartbeat that the doppelganger was telling me the truth, at least not the entirety of the truth, but I also knew that it would not do so unless it served her purpose.

"There is something about this ring that is not right," Dimitri announced as he looked intently at the ring he now held in his hand. There is a catch on the side."

With the deft fingers of a master thief, Dimitri worked that latch and the front part of the ring popped opened to reveal a glyph, obviously enchanted, glowing with sickly purple light. It was a glyph I had seen before when my adventuring party was all but wiped out by an insane Drow necromancer that acted as the leader of a cult five years ago. Dimitri, his face as pale as snow, looked at me. He recognized the symbol as well. Seeing that symbol caused my mind to reel and my heart to beat too fast as my lungs seemed to seize up. I knew I was heading for one of my fits, and there was nothing I could do to stop it as the anxious panic took over my mind.


	11. Chapter 11

We had traced the source of Duke Rollo's cult problems to a swamp filled valley twenty miles (32 kilometers) outside of the port town that bore his familial name. Twelve hundred years ago, a volcanic eruption in the Camber Mountains made the entire mountain range shudder and twist shake with earthquakes so violent, an entire mountain collapsed, completely blocking the western pass of a deep valley. A small city that had grown up around the silver mines that had made the valley folk prosperous was soon swallowed by the lake that formed when the swift flowing river that twisted its way through the valley left its banks because it had nowhere to go once the pass was sealed. Another eruption and another wave of earthquakes, hundreds of years after the first eruption, came slamming in from the mountains diverting several of the river's major feeder streams and reopening the pass allowing the lake water to drain. The diminished lake became a swamp with a torpid current of water running through it and the old stone city that had been submerged once again crawled out of dark waters raising its broken towers and slime covered walls into the sky once again.

Several of the townsfolk of Rollo had gone to their Duke complaining about a creeping evil that kept them indoors at night behind bolted doors. At first animals, and then people, were coming up missing, mostly travelers moving about after dark. Then a rash of kidnappings came, children seized in the night from their rooms. That's when my party was hired by the Duke to find the source of the problem.

We investigated and dodged several assassination attempts to find a cult operating in the city. A cult led by a Drow mage. It was not, as you would expect, a cult of Lolth, but something strange and twisted. The cult but something I had never heard of or seen before and it made no sense to me why a mage would be leading a cult, but we did not have much time to ponder the issue. We…no, I decided we would march straight into the swamp to rescue the stolen children.

The very eve of our departure, Brey left the group. He simply went out to the stables to check on his horse before he went to bed, something he did every night so it did not arouse our suspicions. But the next morning he was gone, and though I knew we needed his sword, I also knew we had to try and save the kidnapped children. I was at the time preoccupied and not paying particular attention to my people, and that was my critical mistake. Leeana, a priestess of Kella and our party's healer was bothered about something and had started to say something to me, but always caught herself and kept changing the subject to mundane things. Had I not been preoccupied about getting to the children back, I might have sought her out and spoken with her. I surely wished that I had done so, but I was too busy cursing Brey for leaving us a sword short just when we needed him the most and worrying about the children.

As fast as we could, we crossed through the pass and into the swamp filled valley. There were seven of us. Dimitri and myself, Chai the monk, Leeana our healer, Erik a fighter of some skill and Marken, a ranger from the great forests that cover the northwester lands and one Duke Rollo's men, a replacement for Brey loaned to us by Duke Rollo. His name was Sir Parvis, a knight in Rollo's retinue. For three days we splashed through the mud of that swamp, being eaten alive by the bugs that feasted on our flesh and blood. It was a black place with cypress trees draped in moss that made you think of tattered shrouds. Snakes constantly slithered across the sluggish water leaving only ripples in the water as they disappeared into the brush.

Sir Parvis died when the lizard men working for the Drow attacked after we had been four days in the swamp. The sun was going down and the shadows under the trees grew heavier and spread out like black ink slowly leaking out of a bottle. The water erupted outward as they surfaced to spring their ambuscade. But we were an experienced crew and we had seen their bubbles and were waiting for them. My first lightning bolt hit the leader, his position in the group denoted by his size and the old bronze medallion he wore, in the chest as Dimitri skewered his throat with a crossbow bolt. Erik, his reactions slowed, we were to find out the next night by a swamp fever that was just coming on, got hit by club in the shoulder, but that snakeskin was dropped by an arrow fired by Marken. The stinking water of the swamp splashed into my face as a one of the lizard folk came up between me and Sir Parvis. The Lizard Men have wide webbed feet with claws extending outward. Their wide feet gave them an advantage since they didn't sink in the mud like our own feet did and their claws could gain them more purchase than we could get. The Lizard Man pulled Sir Parvis down under the black surface of the swamp faster than any of us could react. I splashed toward Parvis's last position as fast as I the sucking mud of the swamp would allow, but I could find nothing of our compatriot. Only a few stray bubbles came up to the surface.

The attack was over as quickly as it started. The Lizard Men pulled away under the water leaving a few of their dead behind them. We pulled back to the last bit of dry land we had seen using magical lights to make our way.

Erik was hurt and was favoring his shoulder. I ordered Leeana to heal him and to check to see if he was ill. We set up our camp, such as we could, and prepared for any attack that may come in the night by placing our lanterns out a short ways from the camp with strings attached to their shutters so we could open them without revealing ourselves. We had found this to be a serious advantage when fighting at night since it illuminated our foes, destroyed their night vision and left us in darkness. I turned and saw Leeana giving Erik a healing potion instead of using one of her healing spells. I hissed at her to not waste them. Healing potions, as the old adventurers saying goes, is only for when your healer is dead. That night passed without incident except for Erik. Erik was a tough campaigner and a boon companion, and he had made no complaint and so I did not know how sick he was until the sun burned off the morning mist and I could see his sallow complexion and how much he was shivering.

"Leeana," I said in a vexed voice as I had told her to check his condition the previous evening, "Erik needs your Cure Disease spell."

Leeana was sitting just a few feet away. She was a smallish girl, but with an ephemeral beauty that she wore like halo around her. She belonged to the Order of Kella, a celebrant order dedicated to healing. She could fight to some degree, but she was a healer foremost. She hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth, seemingly ignoring my orders.

"Leeana!" I barked, angry now.

Leeana looked up, with tears streaking down through the grime on her cheeks. Even with the muck, her face was a beautiful wonder to behold. Her mouthed worked several times, but she said nothing until in a sobbing voice she exclaimed, "I cannot cure him. I have blasphemed against my Goddess and I am no longer her cleric. I have no spells to cure or heal."

I stood stunned by this announcement. My brain worked feverishly, connecting isolated incidents and events and patching them together. It became obvious to me then, that she had been what she had wanted to tell me.

"We trusted you to be our healer," I said, in a furious tone. "We came into this stinking place thinking we had your magic to help us. If you had told us the truth, maybe we could have found someone else to take your place."

"I….I…" Leeana choking on whatever she was trying to say.

"I am good," Erik said, trying to diffuse the argument that was brewing. "We should get started."

I swore viciously. Brey, our best fighter had abandoned us and my cleric was no longer a cleric. We had lost Sir Parvis to the Lizard Men and Erik was barely on his feet. I was just about to announce us turning back and giving just up this adventure as a bad deal, when a child's anguished cry came from quite some distance away and deeper in the swamp. The Frogs and the insects went silence and all we could hear was the plopping of mud or the sound of fish jumping and the maddening drone of the mosquitos. Several long minutes passed before the cacophony of the swamp began again.

My heart was torn in two, I knew we should leave, but we were those kidnapped children's only hope.

"We still have our healing potions," Erik said quietly.

"Let us do our duty to our patron then," I announced and we broke camp and headed in the direction the cry had come from.

We had no more encounters, but the swamp took its toll on us all. Poor Erik suffered the most and Leeana cared for him the best she could. I was so angry with her that I did not speak to her other than to bark orders at her. Dimitri, being much more personable and empathetic than I talked to her in low tone, trying to comfort her.

Two days after we had lost Sir Parvis, we were once more camped on small islet of solid ground and waiting for the sun to go down. Marken was setting woven fish traps in the water and Erik was lying down. Chai was watching to the south and I had the north end of the Isle. Dimitri, after he had checked on Erik joined me at my post.

"Should we turn back, Dimitri?" I asked him, although I knew what his answer would be.

"If we should have turned back, we would have done so by now," he said, fulfilling my unspoken prediction. "We go forward to saves some lives, but maybe not our own."

"I am furious with Leeana," I said.

Dimitri nodded and said, "I know. I got her to tell me what happened. It seemed Brey's charms have overwhelmed our good cleric and he took her virginity. She is also with child. He left in the middle of the night after she told him she was pregnant."

That sudden knowledge twisted in my guts like knife. I cursed Brey with every curse I knew and I cursed Leeana for not seeing Brey for what he was, a shallow braggart who was only tolerated because he could swing a sword. She had always said her devotion to Kella took precedence over everything, and everyone, else. I guess that was no longer true.

"She could have told us herself," I spat out.

"She was afraid to do so," Dimitri replied. "Your opinion means a lot to her, and I think letting you down hurts her as much as letting down her goddess. She did not have the wherewithal to face your scorn and so she hid her shame from you."

"That makes no sense to me," I replied. It did make sense, or at least some of it did. Perhaps if I had not been as hurt by this revelation as I was, I would have admitted that I understood what she was did, but I was hurt, and I was not about to surrender my righteous indignation anytime soon.


	12. Chapter 12

We finally found our quarry in the ancient drowned city. Stone buildings, some broken into rubble, others amazingly intact but looking like tombs, somber and haunted by death. We saw nothing at first, but as the light of day began to fade, a purplish hue lit the sky. We headed for it with grim determination. As we got closer, we heard a keening wail that set our nerves on edge. We stopped just outside the town's main square, hidden be a jagged wall of stone covered in moss and vines. In the city's square, a bizarre portal of stone, at least I think it was stone, rose up on a sagging platform of ancient stone that might have once served as stage for oratories by some long dead headmen. I cannot describe the portal to you accurately. It was as if madness itself had been given a solid form. It was twisted and evil with spikes of stone writhing with the impossible geometrics. In the end, even though I describe it as some form of archway, or portal, is not really an adequate description. Above the gate, floating in the sky was a purple rune emanating a sickly light that was just as twisted and indescribable as the gate. The gateway, or portal structure, I saw was alive, or at least it moved, twisting itself as if it was trying to rend reality with its spikes. Impaled on those spikes were the children we had been sent to save, their blood pooling on the stones. Only one child, in the grips of skinny, ragged Drow elf in purple robes was still alive. The space, the reality, inside what I described as a portal entrance had "tears" in it from the spikes and from those tears in reality a deeper, darker purple light emanated.

The Drow mage holding the child was the one we were hunting and he stood with his back to the small crowd of human cultists that knelt on the stone. About a dozen Lizard Men, squatting on their haunches and tails were arranged in a semi-circle in front of the portal. They swayed back and forth in time to an odd buzzing hum they were admitting, as if they were imitating the noise from the portal. The Drow, his dirty white hair engulfing his head like a cloud on a mountain top lifted up a bone knife to cut the throat of the child.

I screamed out my magic and lines of white energy from my Magic Missile spell radiated from my hand and pierced the back of the Drow. He arched his back in pain, but he did not go down from my attack.

"Save the child!" I yelled to my party and I leapt over the broken wall to try and make it to the dark elf before he could harm the child or launch of spell of his own. My crew was experienced and knew what to do. Dimitri's crossbow bolt slammed into the chest of the largest Lizard Man. The Lizard Man's tail kept him from falling backwards, but he slumped to the ground dead. Leeana should have launched her Spiritual Hammer attack, but without the blessing of her deity, all she could do was launch a stone from a sling and miss. Chai followed me, easily carrying his heavy eastern halberd. Chai, his bald head glistening with sweat and his saffron robes covered in mud, launched himself into the air, spinning completely around to bring the heavy curved blade down onto the domed pate of a Lizard Man who had turned to face us. The heavy blade cut easily through its skull killing it with a splatter of brain matter and blood.

"Curan, Curan!" Erik's yelled out the war cry of his clan as he charged with his broadsword drawn to the lizard men on what was our left side. Another Lizard Man died under his blade, but he was instantly replaced with another, and then another of the scaly bastards.

The Drow saw us charging, and he did not stop to cast a spell but he plunged the knife into the child's chest as the little boy screamed in agony and died.

"AAAAHHHHH!" I screamed in inarticulate rage and horror at what the Drow had done. The Drow then through the body onto to writhing spikes of the portal which seemed to embrace the corpse and began to writhe faster.

Leeana, seeing that she was rubbish with a sling, pulled her mace and charged into the melee to aid Erik who now had his hands full with four Lizard Men. Maken followed after her. Two of the lizard folk on the right sprang forward, running at me, one waved a carved bone sword edged with the jagged teeth of a giant gar fish and another with a bone-tipped spear charged at me. Another of Dimitri's crossbow bolts found its place in the side of its neck of the leading Lizard Man and it went down. The second one seemed to care for nothing but spitting me on the end of his spear, but with a magnificent leap, Chai came to my rescue and with a large sweeping cut, he hewed off one of the legs of the second Lizard Man.

I dropped my staff and pulled out my sword and my wand of fireballs. Screaming out the magic word in the Arcane Language, I sent a fireball straight at the Drow. He was so intent on the portal that I do not believe he even saw what I was doing. The fireball detonated with a wooshing sound, and the Drow screamed as his hair and robes caught fire.

With reckless abandon, I turned to face another lizard. I stepped into his blow, and instead of parring his club, I caught his wrist just and his hand, still gripping the club, flew off over my head. The Lizard Man grabbed the stump of his right arm, and hissed in pain. My backhanded return blow opened his abdomen allowing his twisting guts to fall out on the flagstones. Chai leapt into engage the remaining three Lizard Men on the right flank.

The human cultists were looking around, bewildered and maybe scared for the most part, except for two who screamed in anger. I turned to look in their direction, and as I did so, I saw poor Erik fall under a blow from one of his opponents. I sent another fireball at the cultists and another wooshing explosion occurred and they fell dead and burning to the ground. Leeana Maken stood against ten of the scaly fiends that had joined the fight from who knows where. I charged over to help them, feeling as if my feet were suddenly encased in lead. I saw the blurring streak of another crossbow bolt take another of the lizard folk down. Leeana raised her shield, her light mace swinging wildly and missing. I was halfway to her, jumping over the bodies of the cultists when one of the Lizard Men's spears pierced her left side. She folded over with a scream. Maken yelled and jumped over to defend the fallen Leeana with his sword and buckler.

I could not risk a fireball, so I kept charging with my sword screaming at the top of my lungs. Three of the scaly bastards charged at me and I brought my self to skidding stop only to have my feet slide out from underneath me. I fell hard to the slimy stone, busting my right elbow on the stones. Pain from the broken bone flashed through me and I dropped my sword. The lizards were almost upon me and I figured they were far enough away from Leeana and Erik that I could risk a fireball. Of course, I was within the area of effect for the spell, but I was so angry and bereaved I did not care. Time seemed to move slowly as I spoke the Arcane word and the small ball of fire exited the tip of the wand, I could see it with perfect clarity, as it arced over and hit one of the Lizard Men in the chest and then it expanded, like a sun suddenly coming to life, and a wall of fire washed over all of us as I threw my good arm up in front of my face.

When I opened my eyes again, I could see the blackened skin on the back of my hand, my fingers were charred and twisted. Strangely, the only pain I was registering was from my broken elbow. With my blackened claw of a hand, I tried to reach into my shirt and gather up my healing potion that hung there in its silver container. So burnt were my fingers that I found the task impossible. Dimitri's face appeared before me, a look of horror on his face. He tore open my shirt and took out the potion. He jammed the neck of the small flask in between my teeth. I could only assume the liquid was going in, as the fire had burned my throat and lungs. Within seconds, pain flared throughout my body as the magic of the potion did its work and restored my body to working condition.

Once the pain subsided enough for me to think coherently, I pushed off the stones and with the help of Dimitri gained my feet. My scaled opponents lay about me, dead. Chai's halberd cut one of his opponents from shoulder to groin. The last surviving Lizard Man, made a run for it and Chai let him go. I remembered Leeana, Maken, and Erik and I ran over to them. They were dead.

I cradled Leeana's corpse in my arms and cried until Dimitri grabbed me roughly to get my attention and the pointed toward the portal. Its writhing had increased in its pacing, and its spikes had shredded reality so much that I could figures moving about in the space beyond the portal.

I do not know where the inspiration came from, whether it came from some forgotten bit of lore I had once read or heard, or maybe it was divine intervention or the spirit of Leeana guiding me with inspiration. I stood up, and I chanted out the words in the Arcane Language and fired off my Lightning Bolt spell at the glowing rune above the portal. The effect that came seemed out of proportion to the power of my spell as the electrical energy raced and jumped from the rune to the portals and the lightning played among the spikes, arcing from one pointed spike to another until the whole portal collapsed in heap _into _itself and it imploded with a great sonic boom that blew us off our feet and left us three survivors deaf for several minutes.

Great red spots with black dots in their centers appeared before my eyes, increasing until they blotted out the image of the swamp and its dead city and then they faded until I could see the concerned face of my friend looking down at me, and the rafters of my shop above his head. I lay on the cold stone floor of my shop. Dimitri, and Shasanni were looking down at me. Shasanni was holding the signet ring with its hidden rune, the same rune that had been above the portal in the swamp.


	13. Chapter 13

I picked myself up off the floor, embarrassed at my weakness. I dragged in deep breaths of air, actually tasting the alchemical concoctions that permeated the air in my shop. Dimitri, my true friend and boon companion thrust a tankard of ale into my and I drank deeply as I sat down at one of the chairs by the table. The wheels and cogs in my brain started turning again. What they were coming up with was not making me happy.

"Are you capable of speaking yet, wizard," Shasanni asked as if my episode was an annoyance to her.

"Yes," I replied testily.

"I concur with your argument that we should tell the Council about the assassin. Be prepared to be summoned and try to be more presentable." Shasanni said in an imperious tone. "I will go and inform Lord Valker of these incidents."

With that announcement the doppelganger left my shop, carrying the ring. Dimitri locked the door behind her. I leaned back in my old oak chair.

"Well?" Dimitri asked.

"I did not know about the cult until the moment you opened that ring."

"That I figured out for myself," Dimitri said in an ironic tone.

"You still in?" I asked him.

"Of course," he replied as if he was agreeing to have lunch with me.

"You may not be after I tell you what is really happening. The appearance of this cult changes everything. You need to know the full story and," I replied. "Afterwards you can make up your mind about staying on."

"Everything, huh? Just last night you said it was a death sentence for me to know."

"I am not saying the odds are playing out in our favor here," I replied, "but since an attempt has already been made on my life and our patrons have been less than forthcoming about the dangers we are facing, I think I owe it to you. Did you notice what I noticed, about our recently departed guest and that ring?"

"That…lady never asked what that rune was or what it meant." Dimitri answered.

"It knew about the cult." I replied with a nod.

"It?" Dimitri asked.

I told him everything then. Everything I knew anyway, about the doppelganger and its master. He was not happy, but handled it with the aplomb of a seasoned veteran of dozens of dungeon crawls.

"ARE YOU STARK RAVING MAD, YOU STUPID SONOFABITCH?" Dimitri yelled at me in a completely rational way. He was on his feet and gesticulating wildly. His lean face was set in equal parts horror and amazement at my stupidity.

"I am not mad, but I am desperate." I replied, maybe a bit testily. "Do you want to go visit Valker and tell him we will not do his bidding?"

Dimitri had no answer to question, but he cussed and swore blasphemous oaths against every god he knew and a few he did not. When the fire went out from beneath his kettle, as the old saying goes, he slumped down in the chair opposite of me and I handed him a full mug of ale to help him drown his sorrows.

"Still coming along?" I asked quietly.

"Yes," he replied sharply as if angered at being asked again. "I must be as stupid as you."

"That is why we are friends," I replied. We drank in silence, each reaching deeply into our knowledge and experience to figure the angles on this thing.

"I am," Dimitri finally said with a furrowed brow and an empty mug, "trying to figure out how all of this fits together, but I am not having much luck."

"I am not having much luck either," I replied slowly and deliberately. "We do not have enough of the pieces to put this puzzle together. I have sent off some missives to the Sages of the White Tower, maybe they will give me back something that will illuminate our path instead of us blundering about in the dark. Until then, we should start with what we know and make our plans accordingly. I'm going to the basement to refill this pitcher with ale. Think about what we need to do first."

Dimitri nodded in agreement and I made my tired legs carry me down and then back up the stairs with a full pitcher

"What do you think our first steps should be?" I asked Dimitri when I came up from the basement slowly so as to not spill the ale and set it on the table.

"We are targets," he said filling his tankard. "We better get someone to watch our backs. We will be too busy getting ready for us to be together all of the time, and I will not be able to babysit you all the time."

"Any ideas on who we could get?" I asked.

"A couple," Dimitri replied. "When I leave here, I will start looking as soon as possible. Do you still want me to talk to Barlsons?"

"Let us go together on the morrow," I replied. "I am too exhausted to go this day."

"Our meeting with Valker and the Council will be after dark, no doubt," Dimitri muttered into his brew.

"No doubt," I agreed as lifted my ale to my lips.

"What are you going to tell them?" Dimitri asked.

"I have nothing to hide about the attack," I said wiping my mouth with my sleeve. "I will continue with the story that Valker wanted my services as an alchemist and I won't tell them about our little adventure or anything about you. Lord Belkor is on the council and will certainly be there. While I am inside, can you question his servants and find out what you can about the man who owned that ring and if Belkor has been acting odd lately, spread some silver around if you have to, Dimitri."

"You suspect him?"

"He supposedly gave out that signet ring."

"But why would he have his own man killed and not take the ring back?" Dimitri asked me, and I had no ready answer for that question and so I just shrugged and shook my head. There were far too many questions like that, and one risked going mad trying to fill in all of the voids with innumerable possibilities.

"Dimitri," I asked after a short pause, "who hates me enough to want to kill me?"

"The attack on you probably had more to do with the Stargazer than with you personally."

"Maybe," I replied, "but when the person who was questioning me gave the order to stick me, the person doing the sticking said, 'Finally'. It sounded more personal than a professional to me."

Dimitri rubbed his chin as he thought and his brow furrowed and he was silent until he finally spoke, "All of your enemies, most of which were mine as well, are dead. Since moving to this city, you have made neither friends nor enemies. The only person you hate is Brey, but he had no part in this, of that I can speak for certain because he entered the tavern just a few minutes after you left and he was still there an hour later when I left."

"Brey has no claim against me," I spat, "although I have a claim against him. I doubt if he even remembers us or what he did to get our party wiped out in that swamp."

"I will think about it some more," Dimitri said as he stood up and stretched. He was not tall or particularly large, no good delver ever was, but he was wiry and fit and quite flexible. Flexibility was a necessary trait for a delver. "But I am going over to the Battered Shield and find us some fighter types that can act as bodyguards. I assume you want them to come along on the adventure."

"Yes," I replied. "They will surely overhear some details I would rather keep in the party."

"I concur," said Dimitri, "I will come by in the late morning on the morrow."

"That sounds good," I replied and Dimitri left. I locked the front door behind him and went to my bedroom to freshen myself up. I was tired to my bones. I stripped down and washed off the remaining grime by plunging my head, shoulders, and arms into a rain barrel in my back courtyard. The cold water woke me up. I went back inside to get re-dressed and as I removed my nightshirt from the wardrobe, my hands began to shake as the reality of what had happened to me washed over me, it was a cold wave of fear that made my tired legs so weak I sat down hard on the edge of my bed. I knew I was close to slipping into another fit of anxiety, so I breathed in through my nose and carefully and slowly released it through my mouth as Chai had taught me. I wondered if I should offer up a prayer to one of the gods, but I did not know which one, if any, had assisted me. Although, I felt that luck was not really the answer to my survival, there were too many coincidences involved.

Once my anxiety was under control again I began to get angry. I mean really, really angry until I saw red and my teeth ground together as my fists knotted into white knuckles and I wanted nothing more than to unleash lightning bolts straight down the throats of the people that had thought me an easy target for murder. I lay in my bed, my hands behind my head, thinking dark thoughts until sleep claimed me.

I awoke from a nightmare I could not remember in the dark early morning hours, well before dawn. I figured that I had slept half a day, at least. I rolled out of bed and emptied my bladder in the privy behind the shop. As I had time, I worked on the much neglected leather and did maintenance on my old adventuring gear. As I worked, I thought carefully about what I would say to the council when I went before it. When I was done, the sun was high in the sky and just then a knock came at my front door, which was locked this day. I opened it with a dagger in my hands, but it was just Dimitri. I let him into the shop and I could smell he had food wrapped in a cloth. It was fresh baked bread and a half a wheel of cheese. He noticed the dagger in my hand but said nothing about it. I noticed he was wearing a short sword. I was hungry, and the bread smelled like heaven. I contributed another pitcher of ale to our meal, which we ate with minimal talk until we were finished.

"Do you still want to go and see Alfred and his son today?"

"Yes, I do." I answered him. "Let us get this quest started so we might it end it all the sooner."

We exited my shop and I locked the door behind me and we made our way through the busy streets. It was warm and bright and the noise of the city was a harsh serenade of merchants yelling out their wares and thousand conversations, bartering shoppers, and the squeal of children playing in the streets.

Our meeting with Alfred and his son lasted more than two hours, but admittedly, there was quite a bit of reminiscing about old times involved. We come to an agreement over the cost of the trip and I lay out some things I want them to prepare. They nod their heads and tell me that they can arrange for those things. Dimitri and I left them and headed back to my shop. When we got there, a messenger was standing impatiently in front of my door.

"I am Mage Barrim," I say to him as he peers at my face, no doubt trying to match the description he had been given to the reality he saw before him. Satisfied I was the man he was looking for, he handed me a note sealed with melted wax embossed with Valker's seal, saying nothing. I gave the man a couple of copper pieces for his wait and he took them and left, never speaking at all.

I unlatched my door and we went inside. I opened the letter and quickly scanned the contents.

"The council is meeting tonight, after dark, and I am supposed to be there," I explained. Dimitri just grunted in the way of acknowledgement.

"Do you want to look for some fighters while I attend the meeting?" I asked him.

"That sounds good," he replied in the affirmative.

The note I had gotten had informed that Valker would send his carriage to pick me up after nightfall. I waited cautiously on my stoop until I could hear the clatter of Valker's carriage pulling up to the front of my shop. I stood up and strapped on my sword and walked out to meet the half-orc bullies that had escorted me before.

I had only been to the Ziggurat to pay the various fees and taxes the city levied against its citizens whenever it felt it needed more money. This evening I was escorted into the main council chamber. Each of the Seven Families had an envoy of half a dozen people and there were smaller retinues from lesser, but still wealthy families, plus there were various clerks and servants in the hall, so the room was quite crowded. Each official representative sat in one of the chairs arranged in a shallow semicircle near the center of the room on dais facing the entrance to the room. The lesser families sat in smaller chairs in two rows that faced each other across and empty space. Twenty feet (6 meters) in front of the High Council's chairs there was a podium carved from exotic hardwood with a carved eagle on the front with a shining pearl in its beak for whomever need to face the council. Lord Valker was there, looking frail and near death. He sat near a brazier closest to the dais with glowing coals in it and was wrapped in furs to ward off some imaginary chills. It was a bit of acting on his part. Shasanni the doppelganger doted on him and she waved me over, indicating I should sit in the empty chair behind them. Someone must have cast an illusion spell on him because his eyes were weak and watery and not fiery red. They matched his voice perfectly.

The Doge, Lord Hiram of the Festan Clan, called the meeting to order by beating the table beside his large high-backed chair with a gavel and the buzzing conversation died down as everyone gave him their attention. Lord Hiram was tall and thin with an imperious face that was narrow and harsh. He had but a fringe of silver hair surrounding his high-domed bald pate. His clothes were very fine, and mostly some shade of red, including his leather boots. Indeed, red dominated the chamber, I guessed that the color must be in fashion among the elites. My own robes were not as fine as the patriarchs and matriarchs in the room, but they were still nice although the dominate color was black with gold silk trim. Alchemical and mystical symbols were embroidered with seed pearls. My old worn swordbelt was out of place, but it made the fashion statement I wanted it to make.

I looked around at the well-fed faces of the people in the room. In the faces of those who looked back I saw nothing welcoming, nor did I see any overt hostility to me, but just some cold disdain as if I was a beggar at their front door.

The Doge spoke, "This council has been gathered because we have received disturbing news and this citizen is Mage Barrim, and alchemist in our city, and he has a tale to tell us. Please speak Mage Barrim."

I was surprised to be called forward with so little preamble. I hid my surprise, I think, and I came up to the podium and took a deep breath and then I told my story. I had heard that the pearl in the carved beak of the podium's eagle was enchanted to reveal if a lie was being spoken. I did not know if that was true, I doubted it, but I took no chances and I told my carefully rehearsed story. I will not bore you with its retelling or the interrogation that I received afterwards, not only about the attack on me, but also about the cult my party had once faced after Lord Belkor's signet ring was brought out and the glyph revealed. Belkor, a large fat man in with black wavy hair and several chins, bellowed and bawled like a branded calf about his good name being besmirched by the production of the ring. His defensiveness seemed more on par with someone dealing with court intrigues rather than someone who was engaging undermining the city in a strange cult. The discussion that followed, it was really more of an argument, raged amongst the members of the Council until midnight. I was less interested in what people were saying, and more interested in who was interested in me as I watched the crowd. In the back, leaning against the wall opposite of where I sat behind Lord Valker, I saw a man of about forty years of age, a rapier around his waist. His long brown hair was wavy and rolled in waves down to his shoulders. He had a thin moustache under a hook of a nose and a small pointed beard. His clothes were fine crimson wool with a red silk undershirt under a brocaded vest. His boots were knee-high cavalry boots turned down at the knee. He held my gaze for a second when I looked at him and then he turned his head to watch whoever was speaking. Something about him made my hackles rise, but I could not tell you why. I noted that on the baldric that crossed his chest to support his sword there was embossed the coat of arms for one of the minor houses.

When the meeting finally broke up, all that was decided was for public proclamations to be posted and read in the various market places and city squares warning people about the assassins operating in the city. No mention of the cult would be made, and I was warned not to share the information with anyone. I nodded my acquiescence, since a fight with the Council would not serve me well. Shasanni grabbed my arm as I was leaving and whispered in my ear.

"Lord Valker is pleased with how you handled this, wizard." The doppelganger said so only I could hear. "Continue with your mission."

The frail seeming Valker was helped out to his carriage by his lackeys and I followed the slow procession looking around for the man with rapier. He was gone.

Outside in the cool night air of early spring, I stopped in the pools of light cast by the enchanted lanterns held above our heads by the winged figures of angelic beings that lined each side of the stairway. Like the Ziggurat itself, they were carved out of the limestone of the mountain. The entire way down was so lit in such a manner and people congregated in the pools of light like little fish on a reef. At the very bottom of the stairs, I could see Dimitri and two other men, larger than him standing in cloaks. Only Dimitri had his hood thrown back so I could recognize him. His quick eyes spotted me readily and he raised his hand to get my attention. I proceeded down the steps, fastening my own cloak. Sweat, caused by sitting too close to the fire with Valker slithered its icy way down my back. I made my way as quickly as I could down to them.

When I had at last made it through the crowd on the stairway and approached Dimitri the fighters through back their hoods. I recognized both of them. One was an adventurer called Angus, a big man that used a two-handed great sword. The other was an orc. I lifted my eyebrows in surprise, and then I recognized him as being the same orc that had fought Brey in the Pits.


	14. Chapter 14

"I have recruited two warriors to be our bodyguards and who go with us," Dimitri said in way of greetings. "I think you know Angus and you have seen Gerrex fight in the pits."

"Well met," I said to the two warriors nodding. I noticed Angus was wearing worn and patched woolen clothes under and equally worn cloak that may have once been blue. Angus was a hunchback, but still very capable with his big blade, which he was wearing on his crooked back. The orc was bigger than I thought and his height rose over mine and he was thickly muscled. He had a large single edged sax knife tied to his belt and was a long as my arm from my elbow to my fingertips. He only wore a thin gray cloak and clothes made of sackcloth to keep out the chill of the night. Still, being an orc, he would never show weakness by shivering or complaining about the cold.

"Well met," answered Angus, but the orc just nodded. I am sure the orc recognized me, but displayed no gratitude for giving him the potion that saved his life. Orcs do not think that way, to them everyone owns their own actions and that others are acting out of self-interest when they do something for you, not that orcs are big on charity. For them, misfortune and strife are convenient ways to weed out the weak from their tribes.

"Well met," I replied.

"Then I need some coin to pay Angus and Gerrex here," Dimitri said to me.

I pulled out my purse and dumped a handful of silver coins into my hand. I had twenty five silver pennies on me, ten of which went to each of the fighters. As I handed out the money I said, "Here is your first payment. There will be more later, but this is all I have on me."

"Good enough," beamed Angus. "As I told Dimitri here, I must go and pay my landlord or he may well kick me out tonight. Do you know when we are leaving?"

"As soon as we can," I replied. "I am thinking it will take a fortnight to get everything ready, plus recruit some more party members. Of course, the weather will play a factor in our going, but we leave by the first day of Fifth Month no matter what."

"I will be ready to go," Angus replied. "Do you know anyone with armor for sale, I had to sell mine for coin."

"I may have some," I said to the hunchback, "and if not, we will buy you some."

Just then a very expensive carriage, shining with brass lamps enchanted with Continual Light spells and bearing the crest of the Doge pulled up next to the three of us. A short rotund man in fine clothes, mostly made of red velvet, and heavily oiled hair dropping off his head in waves hopped out of the carriage and approached me.

"The Doge would speak with you," he made it an order to be obeyed and I did, following him over to the carriage and its open door. I did not get in, such a thing would be above my station, so stood looking up at the disapproving face of the Doge. Up close, he looked older than had before.

"I have some more question for you, Mage Barrim," he said in his imperious voice.

"I will answer them if I can, Excellency."

"During your deposition," he intoned, "you said that the rune we saw was neither of the Rune of Power from the Arcane Language nor a Glyph from the Divine school of spells. Can you explain what it is if it is of neither class?"

"Perhaps the Sages of the White Tower, may know the true answer as I do not, your Excellency," I replied. "But I will speculate that it is somehow both a religious glyph and a rune of power all at once. Although that makes no sense by any theory of magic or theological understanding I know of, honestly. The previous time I saw the rune, it was being used by a Drow mage, and yet this mage was the leader of a cult. That cult was trying to bring something through a sort of rift with what I would call a religious sacrifice. I do not think this rune or glyph is of this world, or even of this reality. How it came to be in this world I do not know, but I fear it and what it means."

The Doge nodded in understanding or dismissal, anyway I was gently pushed back so the short man that had first approached me could get back in the carriage. By the time the door was shut, the carriage was already rolling forward leaving me standing in the street by myself. I walked back over to my companions.

"Getting audiences with the Doge," Dimitri said with a wry smile. "You are moving up in the world."

I was about to give a testy retort, but then I had an idea come to me so I told them. "Lucky me, huh? Anyway, I can confirm our adventure is still being funded, so the money will still be coming in and I will have more of it tomorrow."

"Good enough," Angus said happily and he bid us a good night and promised to meet us on the morrow at my place at noontide. He then left us with a wave as he sauntered down the street.

"Did I not just pay him to be a bodyguard?" I asked Dimitri with a bemused look on my face.

"He was upfront about having to take care of his personal business first. I will be okay, although I can only accompany you and Gerrex until we pass the Street of Bakers, and there I must leave you two and attend to some of my own personal business. Gerrex here will accompany you to your place and stay with you as your bodyguard."

With that we started walking toward my place down hills. The sky above was only partially covered in tattered clouds and the moon above gave enough light to just see by, but I took no chances and I pulled out a miniature lantern, about the size of crabapple, from a belt pouch and opened its shutters to flood the area with light. I shined the light in every dark alleyway we crossed. I was not about to be surprised by an ambuscade again!

"What is thy clan, Gerrex?" I asked the orc in his own rasping tongue. Both Dimitri and I spoke fair orcish. The orc did not seem surprised at being questioned in his own tongue.

"No clan," the big orc replied.

That answer surprised me. An orc without a clan was almost unheard of, but I did not press the issue. Only the greatest of personal catastrophes could separate an orc from his clan, and it would never be done willingly, but I was not going to press him for details. One does not deliberately provoke an orc with one's idle curiosity.

"Thou knows that I am a mage," I asked the orc, "a worker of spells and enchantments?"  
Orcs did not like magic and none of their kind ever walked the path of power, indeed any orc showing magical aptitude would be killed instantly.

"Aye," replied the Orc.

There was nothing more I could think of to say to the orc, so the three of us walked on until we got to the Street of Bakers and Dimitri said goodbye and headed for his lodgings, denying the need for an escort and so Gerrex and I went on our way. We had not gone far when something made me turn around, my dagger drawn. Gerrex had his own knife out. In a moment, Dimitri appeared in the light of my lantern.

"On second thought," he said with a face flush from running, "I think I will join you at your place."

I looked at Dimitri, who tried to hide his sudden change of mind behind an air of innocence indifference, but failing.

"Let me guess," I said. "Debtors are at your door."

"Worse," he replied. "An angry woman."

I laughed at my friend and we continued on to my place. It was only after I crossed my own threshold did I let out a sigh of relief. The orc sniffed around like a hound, getting used to the scents of the place. He also walked through my place, going into my bedroom and down into the basement without asking.  
"He is checking to see if anyone is here besides us," Dimitri offered up as explanation. "He is just doing what he needs to do to protect you."

"I know," I replied. "I am not angry."

When the orc returned I gestured my guests to the table in the corner of my shop and said, "Dimitri, would you get the fire going while I bring us up some food and ale."

I went into the basement and moved a half-filled barrel of flour out of the way to reveal the stone floor beneath. With some difficulty, I got the stone that covered the hole in the floor up and moved aside. Inside the hole was a bucket with two bags in it. I lifted up the bucket by its handle and took out the larger of the two bags. The smaller Bag of Holding one held my wealth, but the larger one held more practical items. I replaced the stone and the barrel and grabbed some sausages and cheese stored in the basement after I filled a pewter pitcher full of ale. I took my burdens upstairs to my guests.

An hour later, after the pitcher of ale had been refilled twice and a copious amount of my food eaten, the table and floor around it was covered in adventuring gear taken from inside the Bag of Holding I had brought up. We had organized everything by piles. There were piles of boots, clothing, rope, armor, weapons, shields, bedding, cookware, and other miscellaneous items shoved in the bag from a decade of adventuring. I had, admittedly, forgotten about some of the things I had shoved into the bag. The orcs eyes had grown large as all the stuff came out of such a small bag, but he said nothing as he watched.

"By Holy Beffa , have you been carrying around all of these things like a pack rat?" Dimitri asked me, somewhat awed himself at the pile of things in front of him.

"I was the leader of a party of adventurers," I explained to him as if he was slow of thought, "and the only thing I could count on is that at least one of you forgetting something vital when were already halfway to our goal. That is why I carry these things."

"You could open up a storefront with all this junk."

"Look through those clothes," I said to Gerrex ignoring Dimitri, "and find yourself something to wear. Even an orc can be brought low if they are not properly dressed for the weather, and take one of those cloaks. Then pick out some bedding, armor, and weapons."

Gerrex said nothing, among the orcs, chieftains and leaders gave their followers gifts in exchange for loyalty. He began to sort through the things lying about and soon he was dressed in much better clothing and his sandals had been replaced with a worn, but functional, pair of boots. A gambeson, stained with someone else's sweat, went over his head followed by a chain hauberk that covered his arms to the wrists and his torso down to his knees. He added two bronze greaves and a round shield painted with three stylized eagles as drawn by the Northmen. A single bit bearded axe was thrust into his belt. Upon his head he sat a nasal helm with a chain aventail to protect the neck and throat. Gerrex moved around and twisted his torso to make sure his new armor and clothes did not bind. He looked formidable before, but fully armed and armored, he was a fearful sight.


	15. Chapter 15

The next two weeks were the normal hectic scramble to get an expedition ready. Dimitri and I met with Godfrey several times since it was he who was given the task of gathering the more mundane supplies and recruiting our wagon guards, as Dimitri recruited the party members. I worked on the more esoteric matters, mostly making as many healing potions as I could, since finding healers was proving to be the sticking point. Angus knew two other warriors looking for adventure, and Dimitri hired them.

Gerrex became my constant companion and I found it easier to move through the crowded market places of the city as people moved out of the way of the fearsome, tusked faced orc. I found out, mostly by dragging out the information in three word sentences, that he was a fair tracker and woodsmen, so I decided he would be the party's ranger once we left the city and he was amiable about that.

The day after Gerrex and Angus joined the party, Dimitri and I went down to the Ash, which is the poor part of town that is covered in soot from blacksmithing quarter that is upwind of that part of the city. Thin and ragged people moved through the dingy streets in an almost feral way. In a seedy boarding house in a narrow alleyway that made me nervous just walking in it, we found the brother and sister who had bought one Greedlie's bogus maps. The sister, Helena, was the older of the two, she was thin with small breasts in a blue dress that had once been rather fine. Around her waist she wore a rope for a belt. Her soft leather shoes had holes in them that I could see when she walked. She wore her straight brown hair pulled back in a long ponytail that reached nearly to her waist. She claimed to be a magic user, but one of limited training, I could tell. Her brother Charles, was three years younger at the age of seventeen winters. Both of them had the same wide cheekbones and pointed chin with full mouths that looked better on her than on him. His eyes were a lighter shade of brown than hers and his hair was cut in a bowl cut. His green tunic and gray woolen pants were in the same condition as his sister's clothes, but his shoes were sturdy hobnail things. Dimitri and I made our desire to finance an expedition based on the map known to them. The boy was excited, but the girl was suspicious. The boy and I sat on two old chairs with a small scarred table between us. Dimitri leaned against the cracked plaster wall by the door and Gerrex stood behind me with his arms crossed. The girl stood on her brother's right side, her left hand on his right shoulder.

"How to we know we can trust you?" She demanded from me. She was young and inexperienced and trying desperately not to show just how young and inexperienced she was.

"How do we know we can trust you?" I countered, a bit petulantly. "How do we know we can trust your map with the thousands of silver coins this expedition is going to cost our patron?"

She really had no response to my questions, but she had a bit of fire in her and she would not back down so easily.

"We have to trust each other out of necessity, I see. We, my brother and I, will lead the party, of course." She said holding her chin up in a defiant manner.

I shifted in my seat and bit my tongue pausing a moment in order to be more diplomatic than I normally am when dealing with people.

"Miss," I said slowly, "it is obvious that you have never been on an adventure, while my friends and I are old campaigners. If you want to lead, then you will have to fund the expedition, and that means coin, a lot of coin, which you do not have. Our patron would not entrust this expedition to either of you, so you would have to raise the money for yourself, which you cannot do. I have been charged with the task of leading this expedition, and Dimitri here is my Second, which means he is in charge after me. You would be going along only because you have the map, and quite frankly, if I wait another week or two, I am sure you would sell me the map for far less than you bought it for and we could just leave you behind. If you want to go on this adventure, you will have to accept that you have a junior roll, a very junior roll in this expedition."

Their position was one of weakness, and I held the high ground as far as the negotiating went because I had the coin. They were not happy with me, but I was not there to make them happy.

"My brother and I need to discuss this amongst ourselves before we can give you an answer," she replied sharply. Her lack of negotiating power rankled her no little bit.

"You do not," I replied standing up and quickly losing patience. "You two are out of coin, or nearly so. You have no prospects and no other offers, otherwise you would have your own expedition in the works. You will accept my offer, or you will be living on the streets in a few days. So make your decision now."

Helena looked down at her brother's face and he gave a short nod.

"Alright," she said, not happily, "we accept your offer."

"Come to my shop off the Street of Potters tomorrow and we will see about getting you outfitted for the journey." I said as I laid three silver pennies down on the table. "This is for you to get started with as far as your personal items are concerned. I have a lot of adventuring gear, so do not spend any money on that until you have the chance to go through what I have."

The weather seemed to sense the urgency that was filling us as the first of Fifth Month came closer and it offered us clear skies and pleasant days that helped dry the ground. I had fairly given up on finding any clerics to attend us as healers. Two of the main orders where one might find healing priests, the Temple of Mada and the Order of St. Cuthbert had at one time provided most of the clerics one would travel with on a quest. The smiting of evil was the fastest way to get into the good graces of a deity, apparently. However, evil had the tendency to smite back, and both orders had grown tired of losing newly trained priests capable of casting clerical spells to speculative ventures and had banned their brethren from taking up adventuring.

Helena and Charles were at my shop the day after our agreement had been reached. It was just after midday and they were going through the gear that lay about, looking for items usable by them. Charles, who fancied himself a warrior, awkwardly wiggled into a chain hauberk, feeling its weight lay upon his shoulders. He was excited like a child at a mid-winter's carnival. His sister was more pragmatic and carefully sorted through the gear for useful items. Lenni sat over at his workbench ignoring everyone, and Gerex stood by the door, silent and steadfast.

Dimitri came in then just then and gave me a nod. Lennie looked up and saw who it was and he went back to work.

"How fares your day?" I asked in an almost offhand manner.

"Well enough," came Dimitri's reply. "I believe I have found us a healer. There is a new sect in town, up from Kmet. They need coin to build a temple, and they are poor. The word is they were run out of Kmet for some sort of blasphemy against the official gods of the empire. They have a bad reputation amongst the other temples because they offer to heal people for whatever they can pay instead of making them pay the going rate."

"So they are undercutting the other temples' prices," I replied. "I can see how that would make the others unhappy."

"Yes," replied Dimitri, "but it leaves the Kmet priests poor. They are willing to send a volunteer along with us and hopefully come back with enough gold to build a temple."

"Where is Kmet?" Charles asked from where he stood.

"It is also called Stygia," I replied.

"Oh, I have heard of Stygia," Charles said as he turned back to looking at swords.

"I have invited them to send their volunteer here this afternoon for us to meet him." Dimitri replied as he poured himself a mug of ale from the pitcher on the table.

"Help yourself," I said, ironically to Dimitri.

"I am," he replied, unrepentant. "I am surprised you are being so generous with your gear, it is really not like you ."

"I am charging the cost to our patron," I replied simply.

"Of course, you are," Dimitri said with a laugh.

I turned my attention to Helena and said, "Miss, how much of the magic users art do you know?

The girl stood up and said, "I know how to read and detect magic. I can cast the Dancing Lights, Mending, and I can make an arcane mark."

I nodded, those were all cantrips, this girl who fancied herself a mage, was as weak as a kitten, magically. Judging from the awkwardness of her brother, his warrior training was far less than my own, and I was not a warrior.

From a satchel containing my personal effects, I took out my oldest book on magic. In it was not only spells, but each spell had a detailed explanation of its effects and of how to cast it. Most traveling spell books simply had the arcane language and symbols needed to cast the spell and no explanation. I had written this book myself, when I was just starting out on the path to wizardry.

"Come here, girl," I said to her. She came over and I handed over the book. "This is a beginner's spell book, learn the spells within and you will be on your way to mastering the path of power."

She thanked me, but not particularly warmly, but I saw the gleam in her eyes at the prospect of learning spells. Little did she know the pain and discomfort that comes with the study of real magic. I knew all too well as I once more began to work on advancing my own magic by studying the more advanced spells in my collection. Up until now, learning the spells had not been worth the effort and discomfort, but now I meditated on the new runes and magical symbols every night of spells that I could not cast at the moment. I was advancing in my knowledge of magic, but it was a slow and tedious, and mostly painful, experience. I thought I would share my discomfort with the girl.

The priest Dimitri had promised came to my shop within the hour. He was older than I thought he would be, certainly older than me. He had blanket wrapped around him for warmth, although the day was fine, but then I remembered Kmet is a desert kingdom and very hot. I realized these Stygians must be suffering unduly from our northern cold, but if the cold bothered him, he did not let it affect his mood. He greeted us with warm smiles that brought out the wrinkles around his eyes and shook our hands with genuine warmth. His head was bald and he wore two earrings of black jasper in each earlobe and besides his blanket, he wore a white linen tunic and kilt and sandals on his feet. His skin was red like baked clay and he was not tall, but he carried himself with great confidence.

"Greetings," the priest said in the common tongue, but with a strange accent "and may the blessings of the Aten be upon you. I am called Amenaruu and I am a priest of the seventh circle of the Temple of the Aten"

I returned the greeting and made the appropriate introductions to the people in the room. Amenaruu smiled and blessed them one by one in the name of his deity. I then invited him to sit down and poured him some beer, which he accepted with eager grace. I went over the salient points of our plan and he nodded the while and smiled his beneficent smile. He smiled so much I wondered if he was an idiot, but that concern ended when he began to speak. Mostly he asked questions, very intelligent questions, about what would be expected from him. I explained as best I could, without revealing our true destination or even our second false destination since the Helena and Charles were there listening in to our conversation.

"I accept your offer of employment on behalf of my temple," he replied. "I understand I am to serve as the healer of this party and to provide spiritual instruction?"

I sort of inwardly cringed at the "spiritual instruction" part, but I nodded.

"Does your order allow to you fight, and do you have any skill at arms?" Dimitri asked.

"Yes," replied Amenaruu, "but we may only fight to preserve life, ours or someone else's, and we cannot be the aggressors. I have some skill with the shield, spear and the mace. As a young man, like all young men, I had to serve in the Pharoah's army for five years and I learned much there and I have fought in two battles."

"Dimitri and I were both drafted into the Stassi army some years ago," I mused.

"You have had training as a soldier then," Amenaruu observed, "which explains why a mage is carrying a sword. But how did you get drafted, for you are obviously not Stassi for they are of smaller height and have black hair and darker skin than yours, no?

"We mentioned that fact," Dimitri said, "but they thought we looked enough like them to draft us. They were fighting the nomadic Khans and doing poorly so they needed warm bodies and they were not particular where they found them."

"Did you fight in any battles?" Charles asked, fascinated apparently by the story.

"Several small ones," I replied and Dimitri nodded along with me, "and a couple of big ones. We even won some of them."

"But you are a mage," Helena said very puzzled, "why did you not tell them this so they could use your magical skills?"

"Because the Stassi hate magic users and I would have been burned at the stake as they believe only priests to cast true spells and they reckon anyone else who does so must be doing it with the help of demons. So, I kept my mouth shut and learned to soldier."

We spoke a little more, the priest seemed to say little and listen much, but he could get us to talking and for some reason we felt comfortable telling him whatever he wanted to know. Before he left us, we helped him pick his gear. He chose a byrnie of padded linen like mine for his armor, preferring to light on his feet. He picked out a simple bowl shaped helmet of steel with a nasal guard, but no chain aventail like the one on Gerrex's helmet. I had a lightweight shield of wicker covered with rawhide that he fancied and a spear and a mace with a round head. He also took an armload of old cloaks to give to his brethren when he left. I felt the odd little priest would make a good addition to the party. Later that day I also outfitted Angus and his two friends, Wilick and Frem, two brothers from down south, both strong and capable looking fighters and Godfrey had signed six Venetii Crossbowmen on as wagon guards.

The expedition, in truth, coalesced well, and it was the last night of Forth Month, the day before we were to leave, when the tapestry began to unwind, as they say. Dimitri had been making the rounds of the bars with a fake map, not the one the kids had, but one that I had made up to cement the idea that we were not going anywhere near the Fallow Fens, but rather the Grimm Marches. Dimitri had been going from tavern to tavern for some days, apparently drinking too much, and showing the map around to anyone who would listen. But it was a very angry Dimitri that came pounding on my door with Godfrey Barlson in tow late in the night before we were to leave.

Gerrex answered the door and Dimitri stormed in.

"The worthless bastards have stolen it and have left the city!" He shouted.

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "Who has stolen what?"

"That bastard Angus and his two friends I hired have stolen the fake map from me and they have left the city riding on the horses Godfrey provided, and wearing the gear you gave them, hoping to beat us to the treasure!"

Dimitri explained he had gone round to speak with Angus and had found out he had left the city the day before trying, no doubt, to get the jump on us. I cursed roundly. I hated betrayal more than anything, and I was angry even though the map they thought would lead them to treasure would lead them nowhere. The gear could be replaced, but we lost our fighters, and that weakened us. I let myself have another round of cursing before deciding it was luxury I could not afford. My mind raced quickly.

"Can you get more fighters by tomorrow," I asked.

Dimitri looked at Godfrey and he let out his breath slowly and said, "I think so, but you may not be happy with who I get."

"It does not look like I have a choice," I replied somewhat bitterly, "we need fighters."

"Then I will have some by tomorrow," Dimitri said, "but I may not have them by sunrise."

"Good, I knew I could count on you. I will go with Godfrey and the wagons tomorrow, and we will wait for you at Nur, the little village on the East Road."

That was agreed to, and both Dimitri and Godfrey left me alone with my thoughts. This was an ill start to an adventure that I did not want, but I had no time to wallow in my bad luck. I had a list of things to do before I slept this night.

The weather, which I had thought of as a friend, had turned its back on us as well and when we crossed the river on the ferry, the rain was falling heavily upon us. Godfrey drove the main wagon and I drove the smaller of the two. Helena rode silently beside me, making her dislike for me plain, while her brother rode a horse next to the wagon. Gerrex, his job as a bodyguard done, was up ahead as sort of a scout. I suspected he just did not want to ride amongst humans since we talk too much. Our six bearded mercenary guards hired by Godfrey, looking tough and capable, rode horses as well, their big war crossbows strung on the back of their horses. On the side of the main wagon were loops of metal. Should we be attacked, the guards would dismount and tie their horses to the wagon and they would fight on foot. They wore a mish mash of armor taken from a dozen battlefields and they had swords and daggers and round bucklers along with their crossbows. Godfrey had chosen well with these men.

We made it to Nur before midday and then we waited at an inn. I stood on the porch of the inn watching the rain drip off the roof and form puddles as much as I did the road. Finally, halfway between midday and nightfall, I saw Dimitri coming with two other riders. One was short, very short and I realized he was a dwarf. The other was tall and he road with his hood up. It was not until they were less than thirty paces from me when I recognized the tall man as Brey, the man who had left us to fight alone in the swamps so many years ago.


	16. Chapter 16

I looked up at Dimitri on his horse, my face conveying the incredulous anger and vitriol I felt, but he met my gaze unwaveringly. In his eyes, I could see the answers to my objections. There had not been time to find anyone else that was nearly as qualified and Dimitri had done his best, as I well knew, and there was no use getting mad because I could not have done better, which I also knew to be true. We had to accept his choices, or go without fighters, or not go at all. None of those were options we could seriously consider. So, leaving my harsh words unspoken, I greeted our newcomers.

"Friend Barrim," Brey began in his easy manner with an easy smile, "it has been too long. It is good to see you again."

There was something in the manner of how he said that that made me think he was telling the truth. But that had always been something Brey was good at, charming people. I would not allow him to befuddle me again into believing his sincerity. He looked almost the same, except for some lines on his face and the silver just starting to show in his hair. He was still handsome, but now he could add distinguished to his description. The dwarf was old, I could tell, even for his long-lived people. His braided red hair was losing its fight with the gray and his face looked like a craggy mountainside. He wore scale armor and well-battered spangenhelm with looping spectacles attached to the nasal piece the encircled his eyes, leaving the lower part of his face open.

"Barrim," Dmitri said as he gestured to the dwarf, "this is Karl Breakaxe. He is a dwarf of the Far Heights Clan.

"Welcome," I replied more to the dwarf than Brey. "I trust my Second here has explained everything to you, both."

That was not idle chatter on my part and I met the gaze of the dwarf steadily and with an intent he would understand. We had an orc in the party, and orcs and dwarves have been enemies for millennia. I did not want infighting in the group.

"Aye," he said in gravelly voice as he nodded his head, "he explained the party to us and what our roles are to be. Ye will find me willin' to fight beside any that is willin' to fight beside me."

"Then you are welcome, Master Breakaxe," I replied with a nod. Gerrex, who was never far from me, as he still considered him to be my bodyguard, came out onto the porch with the rest of my curious crew. I saw Brey narrow his eyes when he saw the orc. He must have thought Gerrex had died in the pits. I think perhaps I noticed some confusion and doubt in Brey's expression and I decided that I would not explain to him how Gerrex survived. As for Gerrex, he was indifferent to seeing Brey. Had Brey insulted his honor he would have reacted violently, but merely delivering a killing blow in a fair fight was not something Gerrex would hold against someone and he was indifferent to the dwarf.

"Let us go inside," I said in a louder than normal voice to everyone, "and I will make all the introductions then, over a pint of ale."

The inn was comfortable enough and the food bland but filling. We quickly settled into the normal pattern of behavior for an adventuring party. Rough humor and stories, some true and many embellished beyond recognition, were told as we drank the local beer. Near the end of this gray day, when there was only a few minutes of sun left in the sky, a courier came into the inn. He was young, with dark brown hair hanging down his back in a ponytail as was the common style. He was dressed for riding in tanned leathers and knee-high boots, and he carried in his saddlebags over one narrow shoulder. He went to the inn owner who pointed toward me.

The man, spattered in mud from the road, came to me and spoke, "Are you Mage Barrim the Alchemist?"  
"I am," I replied to the man as I stood up to meet him.

"I have a packet for you," the man said simply and handed me a bundle of vellum wrapped in oilskin to keep them dry. I took the bundle and gave the man a silver crown that he took with a crooked smile and touched his forefinger to his forehead as a salute. He turned to the bar for some refreshment and immediately began to gossip with the innkeeper.

I turned to my crew and they were all looking at me with great curiosity. I said, "This is just some information I requested on some magical matters."

The common room was too warm and smoky and a little too dim, so I moved outside onto the porch where the sun's fading light was just enough to read by. Several of the pieces of vellum had references to the Bloodstone and a single sheet of vellum referencing the shining red wandering star of Illios and the Constellation of the Serpent. I read through the information twice before Dimitri came outside to join me on the porch with the night almost upon us.

"What news?" He asked softly so as not to be heard.

"I have received an answer to my inquiries from the Sages of the White Tower regarding the Bloodstone and of the Illios and the Constellation of the Serpent." I replied in the same soft tone.

"What does they have to do with our quest?" Dimitri asked puzzled.

"When I was summoned to the Stargazer's tower, I was brought up to the roof where he has his Dwarven-made farseeing device. I noticed it was pointed at the Serpent and that the wandering star was near it. I had remembered something my master had said about both of those things being harbingers of ill-omen. The Sages have sent me a report saying that these have indeed an evil reputation for many thousands of years and in many cultures. They have been said to be the cause of numerous political upheavals as well as disasters in nature. The most disturbing mention was a quote from an old Vangar manuscript that mentioned planar travel was easier when the 'Red eye of the Serpent Attus gazed upon the world'. I assume that is a reference to the Illios, known as the Red Star, being in the Constellation of the Serpent."

"The Drow mage and his portal," Dimitri said, stiffening.

"Yes," I replied, "I am certain if I was to look into it, we would find the Red Star was in the Constellation of the Serpent when that portal was opened. However, the Sages believe that this reference is to the Illios being inside the part of the constellation that marks the head of the serpent. That celestial configuration is fortunately very rare, happening every few thousand years."

"When was the last time the Red Star was in the head of the serpent?" Dimitri asked me.

"When the Vangarian Empire fell," I replied, "five thousand years ago."

"What of the Bloodstone?" Dimitri asked me after a few minutes of silence. The darkness of the night had settle upon us and only a few oil lanterns burned in the roadside village.

"There were three of them reported in history. All were lost, except we know about the location of one. It was a sort of primitive healing magic. It does not heal as say my regenerating ring does, it simply keeps the blood flowing in your veins until your body heals itself. I think that explains why our patron is so eager to have it."

"It would feed him?" Dimitri, who was no imbecile, was talking about Valker having made the connection between our patron's dietary necessities and the stones magical properties.

"I think you have the right of it," I replied, "and I think I know why he wants it. It goes along with your story about the boxes of earth your thief friend found. If he possessed the Bloodstone, he would no longer need people to feed on, the boxes of earth are meant to give him a place to rest during the day. I would bet my life that he has staged those boxes along routes that would allow him to escape the city of he had to do so."

"Friend Barrim," Dimitri moved in close and asked carefully and very, very quietly, "what would frighten an undead lord into fleeing like a common peasant?"

"My guess," I said in a soft whisper, "is whatever it was on the other side of the portal we closed in the swamp five years ago."

"Was there any word of the cult in those letters you received?" Dimitri asked.

"There was not," I replied. "When I sent off my inquiries, I did not know the Drow's cult was involved in this."

"I think we are in the thick of it," Dimitri replied.

"I think you are right," I said back to him. "Let us remove ourselves from the dark and rejoin our companions."

The sounds in the common room where jovial enough as we entered as some locals talked about their days and shared in the gossip with the courier who was holding court by the fire. Gerrex sat alone in a dark corner watching everything and not speaking to anyone. The serving maid nervously filled his mug when it went dry, but he did not even speak to her. Karl was telling some story of his homeland that Amenaruu, Godfrey, and his mercenaries thought jovial and laughed. Brey was talking to Helena and Charles and by the looks on their faces both of them had become infatuated with the warrior. I went up to the three of them and they stopped talking as I approached.

"Helena," I said, "I would like you to accompany me, please."

The girl's face told me that going somewhere with me was not high on her list of pleasant things to do, but she got up and followed me upstairs to my room. When I opened the door and indicated she should go inside she gave me a look of suspicion and distrust. It was an accusing look as well and I lost my patience.

"Oh, for the sake of all that is holy," I said vexed. "I do not intend to ravish you or seduce you. This trip will be dangerous and you need to be prepared. I am going to train you in the magical arts so you can cast more than cantrips."

"Very well," she said in an imperious tone and entered my room.

I took out my spell books and folios and I went through them to find the mandalas that represent the Arcane Metalanguage. One was fairly simple, for spells of the first level and the other was much more complicated and was for the spells of the sixth level. All spells of a particular level are based on the same base of word images, which is the best way to describe the Arcane Language to non-magic users. Each individual spell of a particular spell level would use the same base but would have additional word images to accomplish the desired effect. I used a bit of gum to stick the mandalas to the wall about head height when one is seated on the floor. I put two small enchanted lanterns below each of the images on the wall to illuminate them. I sat cross-legged on the floor and invited Helena to sit next to me. She managed to express her displeasure at doing so while complying with my instruction.

"You must memorize this mandala," I said, ignoring her petulance. "Concentrate on it and then close your eyes and recreate it in your mind and when its meaning becomes clear to you, then you will have mastered. There will be some discomfort as the Arcane Language is not easy to learn."

"Could you not just tell me what it means?" She asked impatiently.

"No," I said sharply, losing my patience again. "The mandala itself will tell you what it means, if you have the ability to understand it. Of course, your magical ability may only be suited for cantrips and even this first level mandala will be beyond you mind to grasp."

Her ability to do magic, which composed a great deal of her self-image, was insulted by my suggestion that it was too feeble to be of real use, so she stared at the mandala with an angry intensity, her lips tight together. I knew that such negative emotion would make the understanding of the mandala harder and therefore more painful, but I let her have her own way. She would be the one to pay the price after all.

For myself, I practiced the breathing routine my friend Chai had taught me, taking in a long deep breath, holding it for a few heartbeats and then releasing it slowly. It was the same technique I used to quiet my mind when it wanted to fall into panic. I had long ago found out that it not only calmed me, it helped me to concentrate on the mandala so I could discover its meaning.


	17. Chapter 17

"You are a liar and cad!" Helena hissed at me. We were near the confluence of the two great rivers, the Marl and the Briarbuck. Helena, and the rest of the party had just found out that I had lied to them all, except Dimitri and Godfrey, about our destination in the Western Marches. The kids were already mad at me for lying to them about following their map. If Amenaruu had not intervened when they threw a crying fit then, they would have seen how bad my temper could be and how fast I could send them packing.

The rest of the party was watching us, seeing what would happen. Godfrey and the mercenary guards looked bored. Gerrex was watching me closely to see how I would handle this stain on my honor while Amenaruu looked concerned and Brey and Karl looked on curiously. Dimitri just grinned and said nothing. I had lost ground with Helena and her brother when I had informed them that their precious map had been a fable from the start. They seemed more upset with me for telling them the truth than that rouge Greedlie who had cheated them. I have said it before, and I say it again, there is no justice in the world. Now that I had just revealed my second lie to them, they were taking umbrage at my deceptions.

"I had been hearing that thine map to the Marches had been stolen," Karl said, "and indeed I'd been hearing that it was one of thine own that had done the taking."

I nodded to Karl and said, "That is actually true. It will be to his chagrin when he finds out the map is false."

"Where are we going?" Amenaruu asked in his polite manner.

I looked at the ground for a second before I raised my head to speak, "The true quest begins now. Any one of you that feels that my efforts to protect this expedition from claim poachers, or possible enemies, has somehow harmed you, you may turn around and leave with no hard feelings. If you wish to continue, you must swear loyalty to the party. I will then tell you everything I can, there are some things our patron wishes to keep hidden and I will respect those wishes. However, I can tell you that these things will not directly affect our quest. I need you to make your decisions now for the ferry will be coming back soon and this is for no one's ears but our own."

"I swear," Dimitri said without hesitation. He was soon joined by Godfrey and the mercenaries who had known the trip was to be longer than what we had said it would be. Amenaruu hesitated a moment before he swore as well. I looked at Gerrex and he simply nodded.

"Aye, I swear," Karl said to me.

"I swear, as well," Brey said, but that did not fill me with much confidence.

The two youngsters argued amongst themselves, with my many failings as leader being cataloged and noted by them. I hoped they would not do so and I could send them home. They were really too green to be here, but in the end they swore as well, but they were not happy with me at all. Not that I cared much about that, but I knew they were going to be irritating.

"We are going to the Ashie Valley," I said and there was some raised eyebrows and feet were shuffling. We have directions to a tomb, and these directions are real and verified, from which we will take an ancient crown with three magic gems. Our patron will pay us the value of the crown as a reward. That crown is worth a kingdom, plus we may keep any other treasure we find along the way or in the tomb."

"Only one of the tower dwellers could afford such an item," Brey said slowly as he pondered this new information.

I looked at him darkly but I said to them all, "It may be that you will guess who are patron is, I tell you now to keep that information to yourself, he is rich and he is very powerful in the city."

It did not take exceptional intelligence to know that speculation would be rampant about who we were working for, that is why I added that last part to throw them off the scent. Valker may have influence, but it was subtle, so I gave them reason to believe it was the Doge himself that had hired us, especially since they would have all heard about me meeting with him outside the Zig.

When we finally made it across the river, we only went a few miles before we made an early camp in a narrow grass filled valley. A small stream gurgled and burped down the middle of the valley and the road went along side of it. Small trees grew reluctantly in the stony soil, but they were the only source of wood for our fires as the area was barren of any other trees. The walls of the valley were steep and limestone jutted out of the thin grassy soil like prows of sunken ships or ancient cracked battlements. The mountains that surrounded us were not the great snow clad giants of the Camber and Skarr mountains, but they were rocky and treacherous with loose rocks near their tops as the grass did not march all the way to their summits. On a natural terrace high up on the northern ridge above our camp a stone circle stood out against the sky. I had seen such circles before and they always fascinated me, which is why I had been persuaded to camp early. I wanted to get a closer look at this circle and to record it in my notes of my travels. Once the camp had been set up and two small fires lit, I took from one of my Bags of Holding several ancient Varanian artifacts, both magical and non-magical. They included a tripod and several bronze items that the Varanians had used to build their roads and massive buildings. Dimitri and I had found them in a side chamber in the ruins of a Varanian border fort. Along with the items had been the written instructions on how to use them on ancient scrolls that I translated. This was but our second adventure together for Dimitri and me. The rest of the party had left the high mountain village before the snows closed the passes, as the fort had proved to be a disappointment. Dimitri and I were both convinced there was more to discover and so we stayed behind to dig out a collapsed tunnel. When we got through, we found the fort's strong room and many valuable things inside, including these surveying tools. Our efforts meant we could not leave the village for the snows had come and made the pass unassailable. Dimitri spent the winter in the company of a pretty young widow, while I spent those winter days learning ancient Varanian surveying techniques. I have found through experience that no one is as fascinated with the actual techniques and the mathematics as I am, to I will spare you a detailed explanation of the process. Despite that injustice, these items were the reason my maps were so good. In short order, I had the main landmarks of the valley recorded accurately on my map and then I picked up my pack with its writing material and marched up to the stone circle following what must have been a goat path, as they were the only animals we had seen in this place, beside a few hawks in the sky.

I had not gone more than fifty paces when something told me to turn around, and when I did so, I saw Helena following me.

"Do you require something from me?" I asked simply.

"You are going to the stones up there," she asked in flat tone of voice of someone forced into an unpleasant conversation, "are you not?"

"I am," I replied.

"Do those stones have something to do with the arcane arts?" She asked me flatly. She had chosen to meditate on the arcane symbols alone since she had found out that I had deceived them about following their map. Her interactions with me since then were terse and hostile.

"They do not have a direct connection to magic," I replied. "But being a mage is as much about knowledge as it is about casting spells. Wizards should collect knowledge like a moneychanger collects gold, or so my master taught me."

"Then I shall accompany you to the stones," she replied, her tone and manner suggesting that she was sacrificing a great deal for her craft being in my presence. I just shrugged and turned to march up the hill. The goat path was rugged and steep, and I heard my reluctant apprentice struggling behind me, but I did not bother to turn around to help her. I was quickly growing tired of both her and her brother's petulance.

With the last rays of the spring sun were upon us and the valley below quickly filling in with shadow and cool northern wind blowing, I finished my survey of the stone circle, using cords and stakes to measure the stones accurately. Several of the smaller stones of the second outer ring had fallen over but the main stones, which were about the height of a tall man were still erect. Helena asked me questions about what I was doing and the purpose of the stones. She seemed to relax somewhat, or at least speaking to me did not seem to pain her as much.

"The stones are set up to mark astronomical events, like mid-summer and mid-winter, but if they were used for any other purpose we do not know," I explained, "They are scattered across the entire western half of the continent. I have seen more than two dozen in my travels. There was a ring of stones by my village. I used to play among the stones as a boy."

"Your childhood does not really interest me," Helena said haughtily.

I turned to her, my face angry, and I could see several emotions flit across her face. I think she was much embarrassed at the pettiness of what she said, but her pride won out over all the other emotions and she set her shoulders for a confrontation with me. However, at that moment, a monstrous howling could be heard on the wind. I have heard wolves howl in a hundred different forests, and I have heard dogs howl in the night, but I had never heard this howl before. I ran to the edge of the circle near the edge of the small terrace and looked down into the valley. Our compatriots had heard the howling, and I could see Dimitri, Karl, and Brey, being old campaigners, quickly organizing to mount a defense to face what may come. On the far end of the valley, where the shadows were deepest, the howls came again and then running down the road as if certain of the purpose and destination, two dozen large hounds of a reddish brown color came charging down the road. Even from this distance, I could see the red flaming eyes and the flames dripping from their mouths like spittle.

"Hell hounds!" I said in a harsh whisper. The beasts had not spotted the girl or me on the high ground and were focused on our friends by the wagons. I was too far away to any good with my spells, but they were going to need my magic. A mystic glowing aura appeared as Amenaruu cast a Protection from Evil spell.

"Good," I said aloud.

"What is good?" Demanded Helena, her face white with fear.

"Our companions are responding correctly to the threat," I replied as I saw several crossbow bolts arc out toward the hounds. I did not see if any hit, but I heard a distinct yelp of an injured dog and I smiled a grim smile. But that smile faded fast as I realized I could not get to my friends without being spotted by the hell hounds and I would be torn to pieces by the pack. I looked around and saw one of the fallen stones, and inspiration struck me. This stone was too large by my estimation for what I wanted to do, but I quickly found one I thought would work.

I went to the stone, Helena following curiously behind me, and I summoned my Levitate spell and the stone rose up about a foot (.3 m) off the ground. I reckoned it weighed half a ton (450 Kg). Digging my feet into the thin soil I pushed the stone over to the edge of the terrace.

"Stay here and stay hidden," I ordered the girl as the stone slipped over the edge and I hopped on top of it, lying down along its length. It moved slowly at first, but the slope was steep and I quickly gained speed as I descended. When I reached the bottom of the valley my stone and I were travelling at about the speed a fast horse could run. I glided across the valley floor, unseen and unheard by the hell hounds that by now had reached my companions. I heard Amenaruu chanting another of his divine spells and Dimitri was shouting orders to the group. Godfrey had positioned the wagons to give as much defense as they could and the hounds were stopped from entering between them by the protection spell. But if the hounds could not enter the circle of protection the cleric had provided, their fire breath could. The breathed the flames upon the party as they ran past the group huddled in the confines of the spell, burning them. I saw Gerrex step outside of the circle long enough to cleave the skull of one of the hounds with his axe before returning to the protection of the spell.

I was now only few yards (meters) away from the pack encircling my friends when stood up shakily on the stone and jumped off, to tumble haphazardly on the ground. But my actions sent the stone slowly spinning and it hit a knot of six hell hounds broadside. The hounds yelped in pain at this sudden surprise attack, the heavy fast moving stone crushing bones and knocking them sprawling. I got to my knees just as one of the bigger hounds charged me. Shouting in the arcane language, I fired off a bolt of lightning that took the beast in the face, it let out a grinding grunt of pain as it stiffened in death as the electrical power of the spell coursed through it. It fell to the ground dead. With my way clear, I scrambled up to my feet and limped into the protection of the priests spell. Quickly I cast my own Protection from Evil spell and doubled the area we had to fight in. My spell, which did exactly the same thing as the priests spell, but mine created a faint dome of shimmering blue while the priest's divine spell created one of a golden hue. One of the wagons had caught on fire, but Godfrey was dealing with it and so I turned my attention back to the hounds.

"I am glad you joined us," grinned Dimitri as he came up beside and fired off a bolt from his light crossbow. "That was quite a ride you took."

"It did what it was supposed to do," I said back to him. Just then Charles, his confidence bolstered by a Bless spell the priest had cast, tried to do what Gerrex had done and he stepped out of the protection of the spell and struck at one of the hounds encircling us. He missed and one of the hounds leapt up and grabbed him by the arm. The chain mail he wore kept the beasts fangs from puncturing his arm, but I could hear the bone snap over the cries of the hounds and I winced at the sound. The boy was pulled down to the ground and another dog leapt on his chest going for his throat. I fired off my second, and last, Lightning Bolt spell and killed that dark beast, but the one who had his arm was dragging him away from us an toward his pack, where Charles's fate was certain.

"Do you have a Resist Fire spell?" I demanded of Amenaruu, who nodded in the affirmative.

"Cast it on the boy," I ordered as fired off a Magic Missile spell at the hound dragging Charles. It hit, as it always does, and the hound yelped and released the boy, who was either dazed or in too much pain to react, and he just lay there on the ground. Amenaruu cast his spell and I fired off another magic missile spell at another hound approaching the boy.

"Protect the boy!" I yelled that order to the mercenary guardsmen who did not respond verbally, but two crossbow bolts flashed out, one hitting a hound already wounded by my spell and it fell dead, the other cried out and snarled, trying to pull the bolt out of its side with its teeth.

The big crossbows the mercenary guards used fired off a thick, heavy bolt capable of easily penetrating mail, but they were ungodly slow to reload and fire. I decided to help that along by casting a Haste spell, on my companions. Now they would fire twice as fast and the ones using melee weapons would hit twice as often. Karl took advantage of that fact, his glaive swinging around and catching a hound that darted in to breathe fire on him. The first strike of the glaive took off one its forelegs, and the glaive traveling faster than it should have been able to, swung around and decapitated the hound an instant later.

I saw a mace of pure energy fly out and smite one of the hounds, knocking it back from the prone boy. The priests had cast Spiritual Hammer, but the spell had taken the form of a mace, which was native to his land where the warhammer was not. Another crossbow bolt went flying, but missed as the hound it had been aimed at jumped to the side. Instead of another offensive spell, I cast a Protection from Evil spell on myself. This spell was not as powerful as the ones keeping our foes at bay, and it only affected me, but that was enough. I grabbed a waterskin hanging half full on the big wagon and I sliced it open and let its contents drain onto me. This would be my only protection against the fire breath of the hounds. Once that was done, I dashed out to the boy who was now groaning on the ground and holding his broken arm, his sword forgotten on the sward. One of the dogs charged me, but the spell I had cast turned him away. He let out a breath of fire that washed over me painfully, causing my wet clothes to steam. I ignored the pain and I grabbed Charles under his arms and started dragging him back. My companions did their best trying to keep the hounds away from me, but two others got close enough to breath fire upon me, each time I felt it, a burning pain that chased out all thought from my mind and with my teeth set against the pain I simply pulled the boy, who was faring much better than I because of the Resist Fire spell the priest had cast. My ad hoc protection against the beats' fire did little, but it was enough.

The remaining hounds had made the mistake of concentrating on me, and Brey, Karl, and Gerrex took that opportunity to launch a counter offensive. Brey and Karl came in from the right side moving quickly and slashing faster than a normal fighter thanks to my Haste spell. When the hounds turned to this threat Gerrex hit them from behind. The mace of pure energy wielded mentally by the priest continued to strike the beasts. Godfrey used this distraction to help me bring in the boy. I fell to my knees, my hands and face burned and blistered and my once wet clothes scorched. I fired off my last Magic Missile spell and got the satisfaction of seeing another one of the infernal beasts fall dead the grass.

As is usually the case, once the battle turns, which is something you feel rather than know, it usually ends quickly. We had dealt with the majority of the beasts, and the remaining ones were soon dispatched. It was but a few moments after the last hound had fallen, they evaporated into the night. I more or less fell over onto my side and then rolled over on to my back. I could see the stars shining brightly in the night sky and a waning moon just peaking over the mountains.

"Helena is at the stone circle," I said loudly to be heard, "someone go check on her."

That someone was Brey, of course. He would never pass up a chance to impress a woman, even if she was not quite up to his normal beauty standards. He galloped out on one of our horses, which thankfully had not been targeted by the beasts.

"You still alive?" I heard Dimitri say and I opened one eye just a bit to see him standing over me. There was concern in his eyes, even if he tone suggested he was jesting.

"Barely," I replied. "If you wanted to finish me off right now, I would not complain."

"The priest is tending the boy right now, one of the mercenaries is also badly hurt," Dimitri explained.

"Would you get me a healing potion out of wagon?" I asked him. "Make sure it is a green bottle and not a red one."

My friend did as I ask and I was soon drinking one of the minor potions I had brought. I gritted my teeth and the pain of my wounds flared up as blisters popped and oozed before the magic of the potion took effect and the burns started to heal. I took another swig of the potion, and braced myself for another wave of pain, which came and went, and then I picked myself up off the ground with the help of my friend's outstretched hand.

"That was no random encounter," Dimitri said to me.

I nodded before saying, "They were summoned, but I do not know who could have done it."

"It seems we have an unknown enemy watching us," Dimitri said.

"I agree with your assessment," I said as I watched Brey return with Helena who sat in front of the fighter, his arm around her waist protectively. "We will have to keep vigilant as we go forward. This will not be the last attack launched against us, I am sure.


	18. Chapter 18

We doubled the guard for the rest of the night but nothing more happened. Before the sun was up over the mountains that flanked the valley, our wagons and horses were ambling along the road, which was in no great repair. I stopped our little caravan several times and Gerrex, our ranger, rode out ahead of us by himself to scout the way and to look for anyone trying to catch us in an ambuscade. I was being extra cautious since we obviously had enemies with magical abilities of some sort, whether those abilities came from divine or arcane schools. I also used those halts to mark the road and prominent landmarks on my map.

Of course, the attack the previous night was the topic of conversation that morning and I rode among our ranks, making suggestions to as to further defensive measures we would take and giving praise for their performance during the attack and listening to ideas from them as well. Many leaders let their pride rule them, I remember a retired Stassi officer explaining to me one dreary day over cups of wine in an inn years ago, but the smart leader listens to his men and adjusts his plans when they give him good ideas because the more good ideas you implement, the more successful you will be and the more successful you are the greater your reputation will be among those men and your superiors. I had always thought that to be good advice.

Dimitri and I, while riding side by side, he on his gray dappled stallion and my on my roan mare, discussed the attack as well, and who might be behind it, at great length. We did not reach any conclusion as to who it was, other than it was likely the same people who had attacked me back in Gensmot.

If I used our stops to fill out my maps, Amenaruu the priest used those times to hop down from the driver's seat of our small wagon and stretch his legs and offer prayers to his sun god. Amenaruu was not tall, in truth he was a small man, but he exuded the steady calm of a true believer that combined with his frequent smiles and friendly nature made him popular with the group. The priest was, as I mentioned, driving the smaller of our two wagons and Helena was riding beside him. I could see them chatting away like old friends as I brought my mare up beside them to speak with Amenaruu. I nodded a greeting to her, which she returned, which sort of surprised me.

"Brother," I said to the priest, "I wish to commend you for your actions last night, you have preserved some lives with your quick thinking and that is a stone carved fact."

"Thank you," said the priest with a smile, "but I only do what the spirit of the Aten compels me to do."

"Then please keep doing whatever that spirit compels you to do," I answered.

"I will certainly try to do so," Amenaruu said as his smile got bigger.

"If you have any ideas that will add to our defense, please share them freely," I added.

"The moon was half full last night," he replied thoughtfully as his brows furrowed, "and it is waning and soon there will only be starlight to see by at night, and if the sky is overcast then we will not even have that precious light. The dwarf, of course, can see in the dark, but the rest of us cannot, and evil loves darkness. Perhaps you mages can offer a remedy as you readily create light."

"Your observations are sound," I replied to the priest. "I will give this serious consideration."

The priest just smiled in reply and I was just about to turn my horse aside when Helena, who had done nothing but give me cold glares for the last week, suddenly spoke to me, catching me by surprise.

"I give you thanks for what you did for my brother last night," she said in the formal tone of someone fulfilling an unpleasant duty.

"You do not have to give me thanks," I replied, "for I am responsible for you and your brother's safety as the leader of the party. However, your words of gratitude are noted."

"I give you thanks for your deeds last night," she repeated, "but do not think that I forgotten how you have treated us."

Puzzled, I looked at her and asked, "How have I treated you so badly? I have given you a place on this adventure, even though it concerns me that you two are here, I would have thought that might be worth some gratitude."

"We are only here because you wanted to use us for your own reasons and you have lied to us from the beginning," she countered in an angry tone. "And you have embarrassed us by telling us in front of everyone that we had been fools for buying that map."

I started to give an angry retort, but then I paused. What she had said was not untrue. I had used them for my own purposes, just like Valker was using me for his purposes, although I had used guile while Valker used the threat of violence to manipulate me. It was not a far stretch to see why the girl would be angry. By the Nine Hells, I was certainly angry at being manipulated, so it must be with her, as well.

"You make a fair point, girl," I replied, inclining my head, and I think startling her with my admission she was right. "Perhaps I have been too long in Gensmot, where everyone uses other people, or perhaps I had to do things the way I did. I do not know if this will mean anything to you, but I have been pressed into leading this expedition, so it could be I was unfairly taking out my frustration upon you. Either way, I had not given much thought to how I was treating you and your brother, and so I give you my apology, for whatever that means to you. And do not feel too bad about being duped by Greedlie, he has had a lot of practice selling it to people far more experienced than you and if you had not bought the map you would not be here, so the map has, in a sense, led you on an adventure."

"I…I did not expect you to apologize," Helena said, looking away at nothing in particular. It was a strange reaction, or so I thought, but this girl was all emotion and passion.

"I was wrong," I said, "and so I apologized. It is not such a great thing, really."

We rode along in silence for several minutes and I could tell she wanted to say more. Amenaruu said nothing, but he looked on curiously at the two of us. Helena, I could tell, was still bothered by something.

"Is there something else on your mind?"

She turned in her seat to face me more fully with her chin up defiantly, or maybe she was just looking down her nose at me, who knows?

"Last night when were attacked," she began, "you left me alone on top of that hill. You should not have done that."

"That is not correct," I replied flatly. "It was absolutely what I should have done. First, if you had left your hiding place, the Hell Hounds would have spotted you and torn you to pieces. Second, you could not have ridden with me on the stone because you would have been hurt. Of course, I could have been hurt, but I wear this thickly padded gambeson and that absorbed a lot punishment for me. Third, if the rest of us had fallen in battle, you had a chance of getting away. Finally, there was nothing you could have done to help us as you have no real power in the magical arts nor do you seem particularly keen on acquiring any."

This time it was she who had to accept the truth of the situation. The only time that she had put any effort into acquiring power had been the first night of the trip at the inn. For the last week she had done nothing about learning the Arcane Language, as far as I could tell.

"I was angry at you and I did not want to speak with you or be in your company," she replied softly.

"I had already figured that out for myself," I replied. "But what you have not figured out is that you do not have the luxury of anger as an adventurer. I offered to you a pathway to more power, power that you may well need to stay alive out here and yet you rejected it because for a petty hate. You have been nothing but gaze at Brey with moon-eyes while your brother trains with him. Your brother will get better at his fighting, but you will not get better at your magic."

"I do not make moon-eyes," she snapped back at me, "and if you are concerned about my magical training, why have you not said something to me about it before?"

"You are not my apprentice and I am not your master," I replied. "So you are not obligated to me, nor I to you. My offer to help you was given without any idea of reciprocity. You are free to stare at anyone you like for as long as you like, and to ignore the formation of your magical talents, and I will say nothing about it."

I turned my horse's head around and left her and the priest to travel on without me. By midday we were going uphill through a shallow pass between two of the mountains before descending into another valley. At the top of the pass I called a halt and Godfrey announced he would make a midday meal. The first couple of weeks of an adventure, everyone is footsore or saddle sore, so no one protested our frequent stops.

I quickly surveyed the valley before us as best I could from where we had stopped. Dimitri came up beside me and said nothing until I had finished what I was doing.

"How far are we from Sternberg?" He asked me.

"We should be there in three days," I replied. Sternberg was the last town of any consequence before we hit the plains that surround Ashie Valley.

Dimitri just grunted in acknowledgement as he looked down upon this new valley. Every valley in these mountains had some sort of watercourse in it, but the one before us had a slightly larger stream and more trees than the valley we had just left.

"I see some good sized trees down there," he said. "Probably cottonwoods and I think weeping willows by the water's edge."

"I think you are right," I replied. "Those willows might prove useful for making some wicker pavise shields for our crossbowmen."

A pavise shield was a man-sized free standing shield crossbowmen like to hide behind to avoid the arrows of the much quicker firing bows. Our mercenaries had suggested we make some by way of defense. If we made them out of woven willow branches they would not be much use during a castle siege, but they would serve our purpose well enough and they would be light enough to take with us.

"Gerrex is returning," Dimitri said pointing.

Indeed, the orc was returning at trot. His big black stallion had a white star on his forehead and Gerrex rode bent over, studying the ground for any signs that might mean problems for us. He apparently found none and he rode up the hill to meet us, stopping by Dimitri and I to give a negative report.

"I understand," I replied in the guttural Orc language. "After we eat, we will descend into the valley. We will camp early again and set up more defenses in case we are attacked."

Gerrex grunted his acknowledgement and rode over to the camp fire to get something to eat and Dimitri and I soon joined them. I discussed the idea of making the pavise shields out of wicker, and our mercenaries thought it a good idea. I noticed Helena off by the small wagon meditating on the Arcane diagram I had given to her at the inn to study.

Our midday meal consumed, we traveled onward, descending into the valley. It was pleasant enough and there was more evidence of life here. Birds darted in and out of the trees and we could see wild sheep on one of the mountainside grazing. We traveled until about the third hour of the afternoon, and then I called a stop by some large willow trees that hung precariously to the banks of the stream. The grass was thick here and green and the sun was shining. It was a pleasant and fine day and that lifted everyone's spirits. The party was used to the routine of setting up camp by now and it was done quickly. I made a few quick updates to my maps and Helena helped Godfrey gather firewood before turning to her studies. Dimitri, Charles, Gerrex, Brey, Karl, Amenaruu and a couple of the mercenaries not on watch were soon training and I joined them.

"How is it that a mage knows how to use a sword?" Anton, one of the Venetii mercenaries, asked me after I had just landed a solid blow to his helm with my willow stick I was using for a practice sword.

"Dimitri and I were drafted into the Stassi army several years back," I explained. "We both learned how to soldier there."

"You are not Stassi," Anton said. He, like his fellows, was lithe and had olive skin and dark hair and eyes. Anton spoke a heavily accented common, and was the interpreter for his friends.

"I have never seen a man from Stassi before," remarked Charles.

"They are an Eastern people," Brey explained, "not very tall with coarse black hair and yellow skin. Very fine fighters, really."

"The Stassi sergeant did not believe we were not Stassi," Dimitri said, "or more accurately he did not care they we did not belong to his people and we could not even speak the language. The Stassi had suffered several catastrophic defeats in the years just prior to us showing up in one of their port towns and they were looking for bodies to put on the lines. We fought with them for two years and saw two big battles and several dozen skirmishes."

"Why did thee not tell them thou were a mage?" Karl asked me.

"The Stassi only allow their clerics to cast spells," I replied, giving the same reasoning as I had to Charles and Helena when they had asked. "They think Arcane magic comes from devils so I told them I was a scribe so I would not be burned at the stake."


	19. Chapter 19

"The Stassi are hard masters to serve," Dimitri said quietly, almost to himself.

"Indeed they are," I agreed. "Please continue without me, I must study my spells now."

I left the group as Amenaruu entered the circle to spar with Charles and the rest of the warriors called out advice and encouragement. My pack was nearby, as it always is, and I left the warm spring sunlight and ventured into the natural cool shade of the trees. The sun was bright in the valley and it was all very pleasant and serene, but we all knew we would be attacked again eventually. I stripped off my gambeson and my sweaty tunic and hung it over a bush to dry in the sun. A large willow with twisted roots exposed by the erosion of the stream provided a comfortable place to sit and a loop of root provided a convenient place to place my books as meditated on the sixth level mandala as the stream provided an almost musical backdrop. Each level of magic adds another layer to the mandala of arcane symbols, making it more and more complex and how the arcane symbols are arranged in the mandala determines the spell and the effects that a mage wishes to cast. Each level of the mandala changes with each spell, like a Dwarven-made multi-level combination lock, in order to create the desired effects, although there are "families" or "schools" of spells that have similar patterns. There are nine levels of magic, I have mastered five of them, and now I wanted to master the sixth. I got comfortable among the roots of a willow tree and I began to control my breathing, allowing my mind to try and seize upon the mandala.

After an hour, my head was throbbing from trying to cram the Arcane symbols into my brain. I felt like I was making progress and that I would soon have the sixth level mastered, but until I did, the pain would be constant. I stood up and stretched and heard some of my joints pop in protest. The shadows of the western range of hills had nearly reached to where I was standing and the sky was just beginning to darken in the east. Night would soon come and I needed to be back at the wagons. Still shirtless, I went to the stream and knelt down by the water's edge and splashed the cold water on arms and chest and I washed my face, rubbing my skin vigorously with my open hands. A startled gasp came from behind me. I turned and saw Helena staring at me with eyes wide, shocked at the heavy white scars left by a Stassi whip that crisscrossed my back. I went to where my tunic was and put it on. In her hand she held an empty pail.

"Do you need something?" I asked in a neutral tone.

"I...I came for water for Godfrey, but I did want to talk to you about magic," she said trying to sound natural.

"What is it you want to know?" I asked her.

"You said earlier that I was not your apprentice," she began and I nodded, "but if I am not your apprentice, then what am I?'

"You are a maid with some magical talent," I explained. "You are a part of this expedition, and

I think you are wondering why I started training you in the higher forms of magic if you were not my apprentice. The answer is simple, the more magic you are capable of, the more useful you are and the more useful you are the more likely we are to succeed. I know this cold sort of logic probably does not sit well with you, but obviously this will not be an easy expedition, and there is great truth in the old saying among us adventurers that sentimentality is a luxury too heavy to carry."

"I understand," she replied looking at the ground. "I do not think I really understood what adventuring was as we, I mean Charles and I, had only heard the songs the bards sing about great battles and golden treasures."

"Bards are liars," I replied with an oft repeated truth.

"It seems so, but I would ask you how did you find your master?" She asked me, not quite looking at me.

"Master Marden was a wizard in the employ of Baron Chellis," I replied. "I met him during a midsummer fest when I was a boy and was taken on as an apprentice."

"There must be more to the story than that." Helena protested.

I looked at her, and in a flat tone said, "You said you were not interested in hearing about my childhood."

"I am sorry I said that to you," Helena said, avoiding my gaze. "It was rude and unnecessary and I regretted saying it then and I should have said so at that moment. Please, tell about how you were chosen to be an apprentice mage."

"My father was a blacksmith when he was not drunk," I replied with a shrug, "but his sister was a witch. She would sell potions to the locals. I saw the symbols she used written on the walls of her hut and I learned them easily as a child. One midsummer festival, I had seen twelve winters by then, we were at our local baron's castle for the celebration. He employed a wizard named Marden and he was putting on a display of Dancing Lights for the people who had gathered. He left his spell book open to the spell, and while he was performing, I went to have a look at the symbols. The lights he created meant nothing to me, but the symbols in his book mesmerized me. I stared at them until, with a flash of insight, I could understand them. Without thinking, I tried working the spell for myself, and on the second try I succeeded in casting it. I started my own lights dancing in the night sky and was so enthralled by what I had done I did not pay attention to anything else. I was brought back to reality when Marden grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. It was then I noticed the entire crowd, including Baron Chellis, were frowning and staring at me. I thought I was going to get a beating, or worse, and I nearly soiled my pants. But by the end of the week, I was ensconced in the Baron's castle as an apprentice mage."

"You grew up in a castle?" Helena asked me in an awed tone.

"I was, as they say, a pig in a palace, at least at first," I replied with a tight wry smile. "But Baroness Willa herself took it upon herself to civilize the son of drunken blacksmith and make him presentable to the court and that was a task neither of us found pleasant. Of course, Marden taught me my craft and tutored me in reading and mathematics, and my other studies and he found me an eager student. Although he was gruff, he was kindly, and I never gave him a reason to regret taking me on as an apprentice. He was old when I met him and no longer comfortable in the saddle, and so by the time I had reached my sixteenth year, I would accompany the Baron's knights whenever some sort of monster trouble would arise and they wanted magic with them. When I was twenty, I was able to cast the third level spells and had learned all Marden had to teach me and so, as such things go, Marden presented me with my staff and declared me to be full mage. I left soon after and went to Gensmot to be an adventurer."

"Do you think," Helena asked hesitantly, the long shadows of the mountains now covering us as we stood talking, "that I could find a master to teach me magic?"

"You would be old for an apprentice," I replied honestly. "So finding someone to take you on as such would not be easy."

"Could I be your apprentice?" She asked softly, her face in the twilight, her expression a mixture of hopefulness and fear of being rejected.

"If you are old for being an apprentice," I said, more than a little nonplussed at the request and I played for time as I thought this through, "then I am young for being a master, and you obviously do not like me. To be an apprentice mage means you are half student and half servant. Your will is not your own, it belongs to your master. You go where they tell you to go and you do what they tell you to do. You learn what they tell you to learn and you do not question it and I think you are more used to being served than with serving others."

"I have let my emotions get the better of me," Helena said, her tone had a touch of desperation in it now, "and I did not fully understand your position or why you did what you have done. I offer you my apologies for my obtuseness, and I hope you will consider my request."

"Helena…," I started to reply

"I...would be a good apprentice," she said in a hurried voice, interrupting me. "I mean that sincerely and I would do what you asked if you would only give me a chance to prove it."

In truth, I had not the faintest idea of how to answer the girl. So, I did what people always do in times like this, I postponed my decision.

"I will think upon your request," I replied, "and I will give you my answer on the morrow. My answer, whatever it is, will be done for the benefit of the both of us, even if you do not see it that way."

"I will await your answer on the morrow, then," Helena said disappointed that I did not agree to her request.

"We had best return to camp for now," I told her, "it will be fully dark soon and there maybe another attack."

"If we are attacked," Helena said as she stamped her foot in frustration, "I will be useless to help."

"You are only useless if you lack the imagination to be useful," I repeated something Marden once told me.

"I do not see how I can help defend our camp," she replied. "I only know who to mend little things and spark fires, not how to stop an enemy."

"Draw your water from the stream," I replied, "and I will think upon the matter."

Helena filled her bucket and using both hands for she was not a large girl, she carried her bucket. Lest you think me a cad, I allowed her to carry the bucket to see how she reacted to the labor. She did not complain as we made our way back to the wagons where our entire company was now assembled.

"How did you come upon the idea of using a levitate spell to raise up a rock and then use it as both steed and weapon?" She asked me, referring to the attack the previous night.

"A mage can only carry so many spells in their head," I replied, "so it behooves us to think of other uses for them other than the obvious. Also, when I was young and whenever I got a chance to sneak out of the castle, I would meet with my friends and I would do the same spell with old logs and we would ride them down hills for the fun of it. I would get in trouble if we got caught because we once knocked over a privy by accident and I broke my arm."

She laughed at my story. It was a pleasant laugh, like the sound of chimes in a temple.


	20. Chapter 20

We were off before the dawn broke having spent a peaceful night without meeting any adversaries. Gerrex was the first on his horse, being able to see better in the dark than anyone except Karl, and he rode out to scout ahead while the rest of us finished our morning porridge. The hills were not as tall, although they were still impressive, and we found the way easier. It was obvious we were almost through the foothills.

The clouds were already beginning to pile up in the sky, great towers of white that dominated everything and cast their shadows upon the ground. I made my way through the troop, talking to each one and telling them about the days plan. Spirits were good, especially since I told them we would stop to camp if rain looked imminent. Nobody likes to pitch camp in the rain and I didn't tell them that I was mostly thinking of myself. I eschewed tents and preferred to sleep under one of the wagons or by the fire. I had, over the years, developed an affinity to be able to see what was going on around me. I often awoke at night, sleep being an elusive mistress, and I would make sure all was well before drifting off again. If we parked the wagons before the rain fell, I would have a dry place to sleep.

Helena kept looking at me with expecting me to answer her request one way or the other. To be honest, I had not made that decision even by midday. On a personal level, she and I did not really get along and she had about her an air of superiority, the product of parents who had more coin than most and an indulgent attitude toward their children, no doubt. However, Charles seemed to be more adaptive. He took in all the instruction about fighting he could from his superiors and he practiced constantly. Even now, he was walking beside the large wagon and batting at a bundle of rags hanging from a flexible willow stick Brey had tied vertically to the frame at the back corner of the wagon. The bundle swayed and bounced on its long cord like a fish on a hook from the motion of the wagon. Charles laughed with others when the bundle hit him in the face, but he kept up his practice, trying to improve his aim and strengthen his sword arm. It was, I reluctantly admit, a clever training aid thought up by Brey.

Brey and I had not said more than half a dozen words to each other since we began hour trip in earnest. I planned on keeping our situation that way, if I could help it. Finally, as the sun slid past its apex, I rode close enough to the smaller wagon for Helena to call out to me.

"Oh, are you going to keep me in suspense all day?" She demanded in exasperation. Amenaruu, who was driving the wagon, raised one eyebrow in curiosity, but said nothing

"Patience is not really one of your strengths, is it?" I asked back, not expecting an answer. "I have been giving your request a great deal of thought. I am constantly drawn back to the fact that you and I do not seem to be on very good terms. If I agreed, we would be stuck together for years."

"Should I be preparing to perform a wedding ceremony?" Amenaruu asked with a smile.

"Ha! It is not quite that bad, friend priest," I responded with a laugh. "Maid Helena and I are discussing if it would be to our mutual benefit for her to become my apprentice in the Arcane Arts."

"I think that is an excellent idea," said Amenaruu. "She needs to be taught and you need someone to teach."

"I do not understand that last part, Amenaruu." I replied genuinely puzzled.

"It is simple," he replied, "it is obvious that you have magical talent and that you are comfortable in what you know. But knowledge is not meant to be comfortable, it is something that needs to be challenged continuously. I have seen you stare at your magic symbols until you are grabbing your head from the pain. I can tell you with great certainty that teaching is an excellent way to learn. I think having the responsibility of teaching will facilitate your own development."

"You see," piped in a hopeful Helena, "teaching me is in your best interest!"

"What if you make me so angry that I turn you into a rabbit and eat you?" I asked, half serious. "I am certain that you would be a great vexation to me."

"That is a chance that I am willing to take," she replied as she stuck her tongue out at me.

"Helena," I replied to her with great seriousness, "you realize that as my apprentice, you would not be allowed to pursue your own life? That is one of the reasons why apprentices are engaged at a young age so when they are fully trained, they can start their lives. You would be bound to me and only me. You would have to give up starting a life of your own, I mean you would have no husband and no children."

"Oh," Helena said quietly and then looked back at where Brey was riding his horse next to her brother and she bit her lip. It had been obvious to all that she had feelings for the warrior, and I am sure she was retaining some long term romantic notions about him."

She looked down at her feet and did not say any more so I told her, "Think long and hard about this before you ask again. The power is there for you to claim it, but it will require sacrifice. It always does."

With that I turned my horse away from the wagon. It was then I saw Gerrex returning his horse in loping gate. I spurred my horse and went out to meet him. I looked back and saw Dimitri following quickly behind me, for he had spotted the Orc as well.

"What news?" I asked in Orcish just as Dimitri reigned up beside me.

"There are a number of wagons on the roads that are converging ahead, and I have spotted fresh dung from many animals on this road. They are heading in the same direction as we are," he informed us.

"Are they war parties?" I asked as I assumed the worse. "Or are they refugees?"

"I think neither," Gerrex said with a shake of his head. "They are not war parties and many are families, but they do not have the look of refugees. I have seen them smiling and laughing at each other."

"There must be a fair or a market happening, then." Dimitri supplied.

"Let you and I go and find out, Dimitri. Gerrex, I am afraid that you might alarm them, so I would ask that you ride with the wagons while we go and find out what is happening."

I rode back and told everyone what Dimitri and I were doing and then I raced my roan mare back to where he was waiting and we cantered along the road. Before a half hour was up, we ran into a family in a small cart. There was a father, a farmer, about my age with plain weatherworn features and his eldest son, both of them were armed. The father had spear and the boy had a hunting bow. There was a woman holding a small baby and several other curious children peering at us from over the side of the card. There must have been at least seven in the cart with the man and boy walking along beside their ox. There were cautiously cordial when we rode up, but Dimitri soon had them charmed and they relaxed and they told us of the fair and market in Sternberg.

"Early in the season for a market," I said, knowing there would be no harvest to sell.

"Aye," replied the man whose name was Jell, "but we have one anyway. When the winter snows are upon us, travel is difficult, and we enjoy meeting with our neighbors when the weather turns fair and we will see a number of weddings being settled on in the next three days."

"How about you, lad?" Dimitri asked the boy with a grin. "Do you have a girl you fancy to marry?"

The youth turned bright red at the ears and shook his head and looked away, bashfully.

"I am thinking you are not telling us the whole truth," Dimitri teased the boy some more, "but we will not hold it against you."

They boys ears got even redder and we laughed at his discomfiture.

"What brings you to this province, if not the fair?" Jell asked us.

"We are going to plains above Sternberg," I said, "scouting for a hunt. Some merchants back in Gensmot are thinking about bringing in a bunch of wagons in the fall and gathering meat to be shipped back to Gensmot and then to Varis, they are buying supplies for their army. It looks like them and the Assem are going to war again."

"It seems they are always at war," remarked Jell.

"It does seem that way," I agreed. "Neither of them can see past their hatred for each other long enough to stop killing each other."

"That is the way of this world," Jell remarked sagely. "But it is a long way to ship meat, all the way back to the Gensmot."

"Yes," I replied as I nodded, "we will need to find need to find a salt deposit in order to preserve the meat. That is one of the main thing we are looking for on this trip."

We talked only for a short time before Dimitri and I rode back our companions where I informed them of our cover story and chastised them readily not to reveal what our true mission was.


	21. Chapter 21

As we journeyed, we saw more and more evidence of traffic on the road ahead of us and small rutted roads branching off to farmsteads. Sometimes we could see them and occasionally we could see people moving about. We eventually came to a crossroads with a smaller and less traveled road cutting across the road we were on. A large orange sandstone rock along our main road and carved deeply into the soft stone was the name "Sternberg" in the common tongue and an arrow pointing to the town. Thanks to Jell, we knew we had another ten miles to go, but it would be after dark and great mountains of clouds were piling up in the sky like white towers.

"My knee says rain will soon be upon us," Karl said from his seat beside Godfrey in the big wagon."

"Those clouds are telling the same tale," Godfrey acknowledged. "Rain by nightfall is my guess."

"Do you want to make camp or continue on toward the town?" I called out that question to the party.

"There likely be no rooms for us to stay in," Brey responded, "with town being full of people for the fair and it will be dark, so it seems we can pitch our tents here and now or pitch them in the dark and rain. I say we stop and pitch our tents and so we know we will have dry beds tonight."

There was a chorus of agreement from the rest of the party, otherwise I would have continued on to spite Brey. That was a petty thought, but it was how I felt about him. So far, I had managed to speak only a handful of words to him since we started.

"Then let us find ourselves a likely spot and pitch our camp." I said.

Not long after making the decision to camp we saw some large sandstone rocks forming a semicircle on a flat bit of ground and we decided that we were not likely to find a better place so we turned off the road toward them. An old campfire of half-burned sticks and ash told us others had sheltered here before.

With practiced ease, the camp was soon up and a fire was going. The sun was nearly down and it was going to be a dark night with the cloud cover. Helena, who followed me with her own mandala, and I sat upon some rocks getting prepared to meditate upon our Arcane Mandalas, when the setting sun broke through the clouds illuminating the ground. I was facing east and in the sky, far away, I could see something flying. At first I thought it was a hawk or an eagle since they plentiful here, but what I saw flew straight and true and came toward us as if it flew with a purpose. I watched it for a bit and it grew bigger, bigger than any bird of prey I had ever seen, and with a curse at my own foolishness, I scrambled down from where I was perched on some rocks as I called out an alarm to my friends.

"What is it?" Helena asked me worriedly.

"Something in the sky," I said as I reached up and lifted her down to the ground. "Back to the wagons!"

I grabbed her hand and we ran back to the wagons to our fellows were now alerted and had seen the thing in the sky. Our mercenaries had their wicker pavise shields set up and their heavy crossbows cocked and ready. I pulled out my wand of fireballs and with the cold dread of someone facing a battle, we waited.

The flying creature turned at the last minute to circle our encampment. I gave the order not to fire until we could be sure about what the intentions of this thing were. It was close enough now that I could see it clearly in the gleaming rays of the setting sun. It had huge wings like a golden eagle, but many times the size of those possessed by those birds of prey. Its body was like a lion's, covering a golden fur that shown like burnished bronze in the sunlight. The strangest thing was that it had the face of a man whose hair and beard formed a lion-like mane of a slightly darker gold than the rest of him.

"By Aten's light," whispered Amenaruu, "it is a sphinx."

My brain turned over and over, as the priest's observation was correct in that it looked very sphinx-light, but some bit of lore I had read came drifting up from the depths of my mind and I recognized what our visitor was. I call it a visitor because it was obviously coming in to land near us, but no so near as to constitute a direct attack. I looked over to our horses, they should have been reacting to this threat by now, but they stood calmly cropping at the grass paying little attention to the great creature approaching us. That confirmed what I believed.

"Everyone," I said loudly, "do not attack it. Put your weapons away, this is a Lammasu and it is a creature of good."

The Lammasu landed like a cat, softly and without sound, despite its massive size. It was bigger than the even the biggest lion I had seen in the gladiator pits in Axxen. The thing must have heard me for it smiled and approached slowly so as not to startle us. It was an awe inspiring creature, majestic and serene and it exuded such benevolence that our fear and anxiety faded to nothing only to be replaced by the wonder at seeing such a creature so close. I stepped forward, just past the wagons to meet the Lammasu. Dimitri and Amenaruu came with me without being asked. I could see the wonder that I felt plain on their faces.

"I am called Lowen," the creature rumbled out his greeting, "and we are well met, Mage Barrim."

"You know who I am?" I asked stupidly. Obviously, he knew me or he would not have greeted me so, but I was so surprised I just blurted the question out.

"Indeed, I have come to know of you rather recently," Lowen replied. "But allow me to save some time for we do not have a lot of it before the others appear."

I was about to ask what others he was talking about, but I thought I should just listen to what he had to say since he said that he was pressed for time. The big head nodded in approval at my silence.

"You and your companions have come to the attention of, well let us describe them as higher powers. You quest is going to take you into direct opposition to those things that are trying to break through the...borders of our reality. Oracles high and low throughout the various realms and planes have given warning about the cult you have faced in the path, and they have also indicated that you and your companions are to be a part of what is to come."

"What is coming?" I asked cautiously.

"An invasion that will all but destroy this reality," Lowen rumbled, its eyes were golden and held great and terrible wisdom, but they seemed to carry worry as well. "If it is successful. There are many who do not wish to see this reality to be destroyed. Therefore they are seeking you out for you have been seen to be the key to resisting the invasion, or so our oracles are saying. We have decided that we needed to aid you. I came first, and I have traveled many hundreds of your miles and across three different planes to get here first to prepare you."

"Prepare us for what?" I asked.

"The arrival of the others," came Lowen's reply. "They are coming because they have been warned as well and they come to give you aid even though they are of an evil disposition. They desire our reality to continue, as well. Almost certainly so they can claim it for their own foul plans for it, but that means they have a vested interest in keeping it intact until they can claim it as their prize."

It was then a terrible roar was heard in the southern sky and we all turned southward and looked up to see the form of a great red dragon emerging from the clouds. It was massive and its shadow covered the entire camp as it flew over. The horses now reared and protested their ropes and they tried to run to escape the terrible thing flying overhead.

But just as it passed over us with another great roar, it was answered by another roar to the north and we saw emerging from the clouds another dragon, but this one was silver and of a smaller size but it possessed grace beauty while the red dragon was a brute made up of raw power.

They both circled our camp and hands gripped their weapons tightly.

"Do not be alarmed!" Lowen called out in his deep bass voice. "No harm will come to you and they bring you aid."

The two dragons landed on top of the rocks that formed a partial wall around us, their wings blowing debris into our faces as they came down on their perches. Then we saw the forms waver and fade and two people now stood on the rocks. One was male figure, although not entirely human for he towered upward more than nine feet (3m) and his skin was shiny with a reddish hue. He wore armor of scale mail and his massive hands hand black claws projecting out at the tips of its fingers and from the toes of its bare feet. The face was covered in a red, wiry beard the same color as its shoulder length hair and the mouth was full of sharp teeth. Its eyes were they slitted eyes of a dragon. Over one shoulder he seemed to be carrying a great sack of green. In contrast, standing to the right on another pile of rocks was a woman, almost elf-like in her appearance with long white hair hanging down to waist. Her pale face was beautifully symmetrical with delicate features that were unworldly. Her eyes were violet and large. She was barefoot as well, but was clothed in a blue and silver gown. Like the male, she carried a burden, an intricately carved box held out before her with both of her hands. The male jumped down from the top of the rocks and landed so hard we felt the vibration in the soles of our feet. The woman chose a more dignified descent and levitated down to the ground. Both of them approached us with the female ignoring the male, but the male looked at her and his lips pulled back to reveal his fangs.

Lowen nodded a greeting to both of the polymorphed dragons that was only returned by the female. The male ignored him, other than to size him up as a potential opponent. The male, although not speaking, made it obvious that he hated being there and would have rather destroyed us all.

"Rakkakill and Argenta," Lowen said by way of introduction, "this is Mage Barrim and his party."

"Well met, Mage," the female said to me with her violet eyes that seem to be looking into me rather than at me.

"Well met," I simply replied.

"Let us get this over with," Rakkakill snarled out with obvious impatience.

"Our truce," Lowen explained, "requires that all be here for the giving of what aid we have. But it looks like it shall not be much longer, the sun is fading quickly and night shall be upon us quickly."

The Lammasu was right, darkness was coming fast and I looked over at the stunned, disbelieving faces of my party and said, "Bring out our lights."

My companions shook their heads like they were trying to dispel a dream and then quickly pulled the coverings of the various enchanted lanterns and the space was soon filled with mage-light.

No sooner had that been accomplished, when Lowen said to our gathering, "The last ones are coming."

He was looking to the west and we turned to look as well. Once again we looked to the sky as we saw red dots approaching us and soon the resolved themselves into mounted riders upon horseback. The horses had eyes of red fire and flames wreathed their hooves as they came on with clouds of sulphurous smoke billowing from their nostrils.

Nightmares!

The riders, we could see were as equally unwholesome at their mounts. Three men, or what was once men of good, rode upon the backs of the Nightmares. They were Death Knights, former paladins that had fallen into evil and corruption, which had condemned them to be undead. They were all armored in black mail with narrow nasal helmets sitting on their corpse-like heads. Their eyes were fires of orange-red color and everything about them was blackened, as if they had come through some great fire. The came straight at us, angling down until the flaming hooves of their mounts touched the earth, the grass burned with each step they took. They stopped and dismounted, and with two of the Knights flanking the tallest of the three they approached. They were carrying bundles and all were armed with black swords.


	22. Chapter 22

I could feel the evil emanating off of the Death Knights, it was a miasma with currents of despair and anger and the hatred of all living things twisting together like a brood of serpents. Even Lowen frowned at their approach for they came straight toward us and stopped, the leader standing with the other two flanking him. I had read in tomes of ancient knowledge of these fallen paladins, of how Lord Malice, who had once been called Sir Lysandor, in an act of supreme arrogance led a charge of a hundred paladins against the Nine Hells themselves at a Hellgate in the Ironrock Mountains. Of the one hundred paladins that went to war in the Hells, only twelve emerged, and they corrupted by the unholy powers that dwelt there.

"Lord Malice," Lowen greeted the Death Knight formally with a nod. The anti-paladin did not respond. In the sky, lightning jumped from cloud to cloud, as if it was angry about the existence of the Death Knights. A cool wind was blowing the great mane of the Lammasu, who seemed to glow with a golden light, as Argenta seemed to shine with silver. Godfrey, who earned great merit with me, was the only one not frozen into inaction but was calmly setting up our lanterns to give us light if we needed to fight.

"This is Mage Barrim," Lowen said out loud for all to hear, "and as you, or your oracles have foreseen, he and his party carry the fate of the plane of existence with them. We meet under truce to give them what aid we can. Rakkakill, as the emissary of Tiamat, you may present your gifts first."

The green bag the red dragon's giant man-form was, I could now see, the scarred and claw-torn hide of a green dragon, one of the red dragon's kills, or so I suspected. Without preamble or formality, but showing his obvious disdain for all who were gathered for this strange and unusual meeting, Rakkakill threw the hide on the green sward and the hide, which was not tied, and it opened with the crash as it landed on the ground. Helms, weapons, and coats of mail were revealed as the hide opened. I could tell by way the hairs on my arms stood up that there was a lot of magic here. These items were not enchanted by some hedge mage.

"Lord Malice," Lowen said to the Death Knight, "present to them what you will."

The leader of the anti-paladins made a slight motion with his left hand and the two other knights came forward. From their bags they took bundles of black crossbow bolts and laid them besides the weapons and armor the red dragon had brought. These, too were enchanted I could tell, and if the lore I had read about them was correct, then most likely they were cursed, as well. (Indeed, some days later, one of the crossbowmen, Fragis, cut his finger on one of the bolt heads and Amenaruu had to cast a remove curse and a cure poison before any healing magic would have an effect, which took us some time to figure out and Fragis almost bled to death from a cut no larger or deeper than a shaving nick).

Besides the bolts, the Death Knights laid down five javelins that had Arcane Runes carved on them and I could read the word for lightning on one of them and there was pair of light leather gloves haphazardly tossed onto the pile.

"Argenta," Lowen said, a small smile coming to his face "would you give your gifts, now?"

"Of course," the silver dragon in elven form answered his smile of her own. Unlike the evil beings there, Argenta approached each one of us something from the ornate box that she carried. Everyone except Helena and I received plain silver rings, rings of regenerations, just like the one that I owned, and a gold band that was a magical Ring of Protection. To Helena, whose eyes were filled with stars at meeting a silver dragon, Argenta gave a gold ring with a blue star sapphire stone.

"This ring, fledgling mage," Argenta said in a voice that was like the sound of a harp strings being strummed, "is a Ring of Spell Storing. Mage Barrim will know the spells contained herein and he can load spells into the ring so that you may, in times of peril, wield magics that are beyond your ken at this time. Here also, is a necklace that has upon it a permanent Shield spell that will protect you from missiles."

"Thank you," Helena said in a squeaky voice as her barely contained excitement got the better of her. She put the ring on her left forefinger, her hands shaking and then she put the necklace, a silver band with a small shield shaped medallion hanging from it.

"Mage Barrim," Argenta said as she looked up at me. Her violet eyes were full of wisdom, but also kindness and hope, "it was more difficult to choose what to give you than it was the others."

"How so, _Materisia Argentia_?" I spoke in the Dragon's own tongue, using her draconian title.

"You speak Draceem, but of course you do," she replied in the tongue of dragonkin smiling slightly. "You are a mortal with many surprises in you. Your…uniqueness makes it hard to predict what would truly serve you well. I was forced to concede three items to you."

"I am sorry that I have caused you so much vexation, Materisia." I replied smiling, still speaking in Draceem.

"You are not," Argenta smiled even more, "but it is polite for you to say so, Mage Barrim. I have for you these things. The first item is this Ring of Wizardry, it will allow you to retain more of your lower level spells. The second is this small scrying mirror. Finally, I have a Medallion of Thought projection. I do not clearly see how these will serve you, but if you are wise in their use, they will serve you well."

"I will endeavor to use them as wisely as I can, Materisia," I replied as I accepted the gifts. "Please understand that I am very grateful to you all, but I am also concerned that such attention should be given to us by yourself and these other worthies."

"You have good cause to worry," Rakkakill said in a mocking tone, using the dragon tongue. "As do we all, since we apparently have to rely on a mere human vermin to stop the threat to this reality."

I glanced over to the red dragon, I should have bit my tongue, but I did not like being called vermin by anyone. "You apparently know what we are after, so why not haul your scaly ass over to the Ashie Valley and get it yourself."

In Draceem, to address someone without their honorifics is a grave insult, and to give them an order one such as Rakkakill an order in a derogatory tone was salt on an open wound and I could see the fire rise in Rakkakill's eyes.

"Peace, Paterasca Rakkakill," Argent said as she lost her smile and gave me a stern warning with her eyes that I could not mistake for anything else. "Remember, you are here as an emissary for your queen, Tiamat."

"Shall I listen to this vermin give me insult and not punish him?" The dragon in Fire Giant guise snarled.

"That depends on how much your queen cares about your feelings and what you think she will do to you should you put your own squabbles ahead of her intentions." Argenta said in a calm manner, but I could see tension in her shoulders from the thought the big red would go on to attack us. Her words had an effect on the other dragon and the rising fire in his eyes died down to a smoldering hatred of me. It would seem Tiamat, the queen of evil dragons, was not the understanding or forgiving sort and that Rakkakill was wary of crossing her.

"You are foolish, Mage Barrim." Lowen said to me, a lion-like growl just on the edge of his speech as he spoke in Draceem. "You have noted that we are all powerful beings in our own right, and that should tell you that what you are facing is serious, and yet you antagonize someone who has given you aid."

"I see the value of your Wisdom, Lord Lowen," I replied.

"It is time I give you my gift, Mage Barrim," the Lammasu voice thrummed in his chest. He placed his paw, like a lion's, but much larger as it covered a goodly portion of my chest. I looked curiously into the golden eyes of the Lammasu. Time began to slow down, a lightning bolt raced across the sky but then slowed to a stop. Time slowed, stopped, and then it disappeared altogether into eternity. I was absorbed into the consciousness of the Lammasu. The world around me began to change, or more accurately, I began to perceive it more accurately and in a way I do not think a human could ever perceive reality. Everything became a language, or more accurately a single Word so perfect that those of us who are limited in our mortality would never understand in its entirety, and yet I could understand it, or at least a great deal of it, because it was the language of the magic that I worked. The symbols I tried to cram into my mind were all about me, living things, or maybe a living thing, since each was like a facet of some great priceless jewel. The Arcane mandalas filled my mind, an experience that has no words in our common tongue that I could express it to you. I can tell you that the sixth level mandala that had been causing me such pain was now clear and easily understood, and I wondered why it had been so hard for me to grasp. There were three more levels that I could grasp as well, but maybe not as clearly as I could the sixth, but it seemed nothing was beyond my grasp at the moment, if I just concentrated for a moment.

It was then that I saw another Word, this one nauseating and foul, and it was trying to undo the Word of Creation. Somehow, I understood that the Word of Destruction could itself be undone with an act of creation. I did not know exactly what that act was, but know it I knew with absolute certainty that it was true.

My human brain, overwhelmed to say the least by these revelations, finally asked a question. Reality existed in a word, a word so perfect that it had the power of creation.

But who was speaking the Word?

I followed the Word…no, that is not right, but the words I am speaking now are but are nothing more than shadows and fragments and echoes of echoes, compared to one great Word. I will say I sought out the source of that Word but I was denied.

"It is not for you to see, the Source," Lowen said to me and for the first time I noticed him beside me. Somehow, he hid from me the source of the Word, and I was not angry, but I was heartbroken and I wept at being denied a chance to look at perfection. "You are not ready to see what you want. You have many flaws, imperfections, that when compared to the perfection of the Source, would crush your soul with anguish. I will spare you that grief.

We exist outside of time, and no one can hear us, and I would say this to you while I have the chance. Your quest matters, but it is not the object of your quest, but the quest itself. I do not fully understand what must be done, but you are the one to do it, but you will not do it alone. Your companions are not with you by chance, they serve their purpose in this endeavor. Good and Evil have come together, each for their own reasons to be sure, but in hope that you will succeed. You are a hard man, Barrim. Life has made you so, but you are a good man, but you often lack compassion and your pride is great and foolish, as you proved by antagonizing an Ancient Red Dragon for no good reason. I have brought you to this state to show you that creation is not made of anger or hate, but love. There is pain, that you well know, but it is like the pain a mother goes through to bring about the birth of child they will love unconditionally. You must grow in wisdom as well as knowledge. I would tell you more, but I cannot. But mark my words and mark them well, wisdom and compassion will serve you better than all the spells you human's play with."

With those words, time came rushing back into existence and I saw the lightning bolt that had been frozen in the sky finish its course and a great booming crash of thunder sounded so loud I could feel it in my chest. Rain was beginning to fall, and I hoped it hid the tears on my cheeks. I could see Lowen looking at me, his golden eyes soft and full of wisdom.

"Priest," Lowen rumbled next, "please attend me."

Amenaruu came forward, his face showing, not fear, but an intense focus on the Lammasu. Lowen placed his giant paw on the priest's breast for just as second and Amenaruu's face lit up with sublime joy.

"Our moot is over," Lowen said loudly to the company. "We have each given to these adventurers what help we could. Now let us depart in peace per our agreement and seek out our own realms and places."

"Fare well, Mage Barrim," Argenta said to me. "I leave you with my hopes."

"If it is within my power, I will give them back to you fulfilled," I replied to the silver dragon and she smiled in return before turning and walking away. Rakkakill followed her, but he gave me a look of special hatred and he stomped by me.

The Death Knights turned away without speaking, but then their leader stopped and turned his baleful gaze toward my companions. Lord Malice turned back and he approached Charles, stopping but a single pace from him. The other two Death Knights stopped as well and then turned to watch. Lord Malice reached down with his dead man's fingers and undid the buckle on his swordbelt. He removed his black sword and its scabbard and then he presented it to surprised Charles.

"Someday," Lord Malice said in the cruel, unworldly whisper of a dead man, "you will return this to me when you join our order."

Charles face was a mixture of fear and wonder and he said nothing as he reached out and took the long sword from the Death Knight. Lord Malice turned away and the three Death Knights went to their hellish steeds and remounted them.

"That was unexpected," Lowen said in a soft tone. I turned to him and he wore a worried look on his face.

There was a great churning of air as the two dragons, who had returned to their natural forms lifted off from the ground. Rakkakill headed back the way he came. Argenta circled above us with a cry that was meant to be an encouragement to us before she too winged away. The Death Knights rode into the air and straight away to the west.

"I take my leave of you all," Lowen said. "Your quest will be difficult, but be of good cheer and hope. Remember what I told, you Mage Barrim."

That last part Lowen spoke only loud enough for me to hear and he turned, ran a few paces before launching himself into the air. Within seconds, we were all alone and looking at each other with faces filled with wonder. If the rain had not started to fall, I do not know how long we would have stood there just trying to comprehend what we had witnessed.


	23. Chapter 23

The storm broke and buckets came down and we scurried to get our new items under cover, my people dragging the disgusting old dragon hide across the wet grass. We shifted everything under the kitchen tarpaulin that Godfrey used when cooking. The horses had calmed down and had naturally sought protection from the storm from the overhanging rocks that lined our eastern perimeter.

"Dimitri," I asked my friend, "would you see that these items are given out fairly?"

"I can do that," he replied as he looked at me with a strange expression. "Is there something wrong? You do not look good."

I could not explain to him what I had experienced nor the heartbreak of having been so close to perfection only to be denied its final vision, so I said to him, "I am fine, my friend. I...the Lammasu's gift was an understanding of magic that I had never experienced before. I need to rest."

Dimitri nodded and went off to kitchen shelter while I crawled in my seldom used tent. I opened my little pocket lantern and illuminated the interior of the tent. The rain slapped against the canvas as overhead the sky seemed to be trying to tear itself to pieces as it flashed and thundered with harsh abandoned. There was a small three legged folding stool with a leather seat not unlike a saddle in my tent and my bedroll was rolled up to one side next to my personal pack. I sat down heavily on the stool and held my hands to my head. The memory of the perfection I had heard was fading from my mind even as I tried to keep it there. I suddenly thought of the scrying mirror Argenta had given me and I tried to scry the realm of creation that Lowen had showed me but I failed. I sighed after some time and then tried to scry my home back in Gensmot. The image appeared in the mirror of my little shop and I could see it quite clearly. I broke the connection because seeing my little place, as humble as it is, brought on a bout of home sickness.

Next, I tried the necklace and with a little effort I got a result. First, the emotions of my companions came to me and then with a little more concentration I could read their thoughts. They were excited about the treasures they had gained with so little effort and that worried me. We had, I figured, gotten more enchanted weapons and gear handed to us than an adventurer would normally see in two lifetimes. I guess I am the pessimistic sort, because I had the firmest conviction that we would have to pay for these treasures sometime.

The Ring of Wizardry was a useful gift, it doubled my double spells I could use, they were the more minor of my spells but useful nonetheless. I pulled out my spells books and looked once more upon the Arcane symbols. Something, I quickly realized, had changed in me. Even with known spells, memorizing the symbols took effort. As I looked down now I could read, understand, and memorize the spells almost without effort, like a shopping list. It seemed so simple, I was amazed. I grabbed up the loose leaf pieces of vellum that contained the sixth level Mandalas, and I laughed as I could read it as easily as I could a first level spell. I had been banging my brain up against that mandala for weeks, and now I saw it clearly and what it meant and what power it was meant to invoke. However, I soon found out that if there was no spell I could not cast among my collection, I was still limited in the number of spells I could cast. From my limited list of sixth level spells I chose Tenser's Transformation. That spell would give me greater combat ability and with it, I could stand with the fighter's on a more equitable level, which might be necessary since we were still two fighters short.

Suddenly, I could hear the raised voices of my companions, I reached out with my new found mental abilities and discovered there was no alarm, only a heated discussion of some bit of treasure. I then realized that all of my companions were gathered around the treasure and that there was no one on guard. I started to get angry, but then feeling the excitement of my companions I realized that I should have expected them to be fully engrossed in the treasure.

Normally, I would have been just as engrossed and just as intent on getting what I figured was my fair share, but my thoughts were drawn back to the vision Lowen had shown me, and even thought the specifics continued to fade from my mind, I could still "feel" the perfection in my soul. After that, everything seemed a bit petty and I had no heart to squabble over things.

I grabbed my oil skin cape and threw it around my shoulders and I put my wide-brimmed helmet on my head and stepped out of the tent and walked over to my companions and informed them I would be on watch. I got some guilty looks in return as I reminded them about the dereliction of their duties, but no offers for anyone to join me. Tomorrow, I would have a talk with my people about leaving the camp unguarded

Thanks to Godfrey, the perimeter lights were up and the little harbor-like circle of stone we were camped in was well lit. I went to the edge of the light and walked slowly around our perimeter, clutching at my cape that the wind whipping around, and I held up my other hand against the wind-driven rain spraying me in the face. I was soon soaked to my bones despite my cape, but I endured the discomfort as best that I could. I did, however, remain vigilant and I used the flashes of lightning to see out across the land, as well as my medallion to search for thoughts in the dark. I detected nothing, but then on such a wild night, nothing should be out, but I was joined by Amenaruu.

"May I speak to you, friend Barrim?"

"Of course," I replied, "but you could not have picked a stranger time to do so with this storm blowing around us."

"You may be right," the priest said, "but then again no one can overhear us and I do not think we should, or that we even can, tell others what the sphinx showed us. I would ask you, what did you see, Barrim?"

"I…saw a word, a word so perfect it caused the creation of reality. All of the words I use my spells are but fragments of that one Word. But Lowen denied me the chance to see what was speaking the Word."

Amenaruu, his bald head hidden deep in the hood of the cloak he was clutching about himself, nodded in response.

"What did you see, Amenaruu?"

"I saw the Aten," he replied his voice filled with wonder "the speaker of your Word and I spoke…no I communed with him. I think I may be the first person since Pharaoh Akhenaten to have done so. I cannot tell you what it is we communed about really, it was more of an experience, a state of being, rather than a conversation, but I have come to understand much and I have much more I still need to meditate upon to understand it. However, you and the girl were central to the Aten's ideas. I am to assist you even to the point of giving my life for you. Do not look so shocked, I am more than willing to sacrifice myself at the behest of the Aten should that become necessary."

"You spoke with the sun?" I asked the priest, thinking about the sun disc he wore as a holy symbol around his neck. I was, I admit, jealous he was able to see what I had desired to see but was denied. My anguish must have been evident in my voice because he responded with an explanation.

"Do not be upset, my friend," Amenaruu said as he placed his hand on my arm. "I have spent twenty five years preparing myself to commune with the Aten. You have spent as long studying your magic, and that is what you were shown because that was what you were ready to see. We may have actually both seen the same thing, but in a different way. But to answer your question, I did not speak to the sun, I spoke to the Aten. Although the solar disc is to our order a perfect representation of the Aten, it remains a symbol only, since it was created and is not the creator."

I had to accept Amenaruu's logic, but I still could not help but to feel a loss at what I was denied, but we still spent almost two hours talking in halting sentences in a raging storm as we desperately tried to describe to each other that which is indescribable. Finally Petrio, one of our crossbowmen, relieved me with a sheepish smile. The storm had mostly died down by then and Amenaruu and parted ways. Most of the lightning was to our east and the wind had died down appreciably and the rain, which was still heavy but no longer a torrent, fell straight down to the earth instead being blown sideways.

Dimitri, walking with a staff I had never seen before, found me as I made my way back to my tent.

"Can we speak?" He asked me.

"Of course," I replied and we went into my tent. I began to change out of my wet clothes as Dimitri pulled a large bundle and a wineskin from out from beneath his cloak as well a smaller bundle from a large pouch. The larger bundle held my share of the extra magic items that had been allocated to me. The smaller bundle held bread and cheese and that interested me more for I had not for some time.

As I sliced wedges out of the wheel of cheese, Dimitri filled some wooden cups with wine.

"Everyone seems to be mostly satisfied with their share, although there was some disagreement."

"So I heard," I replied around a mouthful of bread and cheese.

"Most of what we were given was arms and armor, and those have been distributed. I took a pair of enchanted gloves and a shirt of Elven mail, Godfrey got a Decanter of Endless Water, Helena took an enchanted dagger and Cloak of Protection. With the ring the lady dragon gave her, she is much better protected than before. Brey took a pair of Gauntlets of Strength and Karl took a Dwarven throwing hammer, the damn thing returns to you hand when you throw it. Gerrex took a magical bow and arrows and small Dwarven farseer, which is a useful item for a scout. You got what is left."

"Thank you for doing that for me," I replied nodding.

"You are looking better, but your face is still drawn and pale," Dimitri said. "You should not have been out standing guard and that was my fault."

"I will feel better in the morning, after I rest. I will speak to our guards tomorrow about abandoning their duties. The roads will be terrible tomorrow with all this rain."

Dimitri frowned because he knew I was trying to change the subject, but he did not press me, and I really did think I would be fine in the morning.

It turns out I was right on both counts, I felt very well when I awoke and had my breakfast and the road was terrible mess of mud that tried to swallow our wagons and suck the boots off our feet. We got a late start and so I figured we would not reach the village of Sternberg until after midday. The sun had arisen in a clear sky and warmed the face of the earth and made the air sticky with humidity. As we went along, I could sense the annoyance of everyone at the mud, but I felt a particular bit of resentment coming from Merto, the shortest of the mercenaries. I had to discretely cast a Comprehend Language spell to understand him when I used my necklace to listen in on his thoughts. He was angry because he thought he had been cheated when the items had been distributed, and he was not necessarily wrong when he got stuck with a small stiletto that did not suit a fighting. I casually brought my horse next to his and I called Anton, who was nearby, over.

"Tell Merto, I said to Anton my interpreter, "I heard what got distributed last night and I think this magic dagger is better suited to a fighting man than a small stiletto, and if he wishes to trade them I will do so."

Anton relayed the message, which I could understand perfectly thanks to my Comprehend Languages spell and Merto was quite eager to make the trade. I did so with a smile and I left Merto a much happier man.

The dagger I had traded had come in the bundle Dimitri had brought to my tent the night before. With it had been a cutlass, not dissimilar in use than the short sword I normally carried, but knuckle bow engraved with nautical motifs gave extra protection for the hand. The staff Dimitri had brought me was a Staff of Striking, and there was also a wide belt, ugly and crude, but just as obviously enchanted. I put the belt on and I noticed nothing until one of our wagons got stuck and I easily picked up one corner of the wagon by myself. The belt was a Girdle of Hill Giant Strength. I thought for a moment about giving the belt to one of our fighters, but then I realized that I might well be called on to fight myself. Besides, I have long learned that having surprises, like a wizard with exceptional strength, could be incredibly useful.

Despite the mud, the citizens of Sternberg were in high spirits when we arrived. The city's markets and squares were full of people as we passed through. Sternberg was the last town of any real size before we left for the plains with about four thousand souls living there. We made our way through the entire town and camped on the other side of the town, upstream of what was sure to be a polluted river. We found a nice camping spot by the river under some trees with a lot of deadfall for firewood from the storm and we were soon joined by a trading caravan coming from east who had diverted, we soon learned, to this town since the rivers were flooded farther south and the ferries were not crossing.

"I would normally not bother to come all the way north to this place," Syzmon the merchant owner of the caravan told me, since he spoke Common. He was a stout fellow with a round red face under a fur-lined hat and a blue-black curly beard hanging down luxuriously onto the breast of colorful robes of wool. His head seemed to sit directly on his shoulders and he laughed frequently."

"Were you staying in Vidin?" I asked him. Vidin was a town near the passes on the western side of the southern Skarr Mountains.

"No, no," Syzmon replied, "I was in Pleven. I broke the snow trail through the pass between Pleven and Vidin. We had an early spring and I had the idea we could get an early start and be the first easterners in to trade. I thought myself clever as there was not a soul on the road, but the damned rivers have thwarted me."

"A merchant's life is hard one," I said to commiserate with him. Honestly, he looked like he was doing quite well.

"You have spoken truth with that saying, my friend" he agreed as he slapped my back, which I found out he liked to do a lot.

"Is there any news out of the east?" I asked him.

"The Stassi are having trouble with the Khans again," he said stroking his beard as he thought. "The kings of Fulvar and Cressci will likely join with the Stassi, although there is no love lost between those three, but the Khans have been coming farther west ever year and Fulvar and Cressci are having trouble on their eastern borders. Hindustan had several harbors wrecked in a terrible typhoon that came out of the Harrying Sea late last summer. They may join in alliance with the Stassi as well, if King Rava can quell the rebellion in his southern provinces."

Our conversation lasted only a few minutes more as Syzmon wanted to get his booth in the city market set up as soon as possible. During our conversation, I discretely listened into his thoughts and he was exactly what he says he was, a merchant out of Pleven with no ulterior motives or schemes.

With our camp set up, and my people admonished to stick with our story of being a hunting expedition, we set up a schedule for people to go into town and enjoy themselves and the festivities. Late in the afternoon, I went to town by myself and looked around. I have come to have an aversion to crowds, but this was a small city with wide streets, I did not feel too crowded. I passed jugglers and musicians and merchants and bakers playing music and selling their wars. There was single fountain in the city, a nondescript rock with water gurgling out of crack underneath a large cottonwood tree. I heard a flute playing a familiar tune in a familiar way. I followed the sound until I saw the player sitting with his back to the tall cottonwood tree.

"Chai!" I exclaimed in astonishment as finding my old friend.

Chai smiled at me and said, "I have come a great distance to find you, my friend!"


	24. Chapter 24

My head reeled at seeing my friend. He had not changed much in the five years from when I had seen him last when we left him in the swamp to destroy and purify the Drow's books and bizarre artifacts he had used in the sunken city. There were more lines on his face, but he still wore the yellow painted symbols of his rank on his bald head as a follower of Chan, the mind religion of his monastery in the eastern mountains. Even in the most dank dungeon or dark forests where we suffered hunger and privation, Chai would repaint his symbols. He had told me they represented a mind clear of desire and enlightened. His saffron robes and sturdy boots were travel worn.

He stood up to greet me and my smile matched his own. I grasped his hand, which he sort of flinched when I took it. I had forgotten the Followers of Chan did not usually engage in idle physical contact, but I blundered ahead and vigorously shook it anyways. He relaxed and his smile broadened.

"Why are you here?" I asked him. "Certes, you could not be here by chance."

"Indeed not, Friend Barrim." Chai replied. "The abbot of my monastery has received disturbing visions of a great danger arising and I have been sent here because I was the most familiar with the western lands and I could speak the language. I was told by my abbot to come to this place and wait and I have been waiting here for many days to find you."

I looked around and saw no one near us or even paying attention to us, but I still leaned in to whisper, "The cult we stopped in the sunken city is back and it is in Gensmot. We are on a quest for someone, that will have far reaching consequences, although what those are, are a bit vague. But with you joining us, my hope for success has increased a hundred-fold!"

"Let us hope so," Chai said, "for the Abbot has seen these beings we stand against as being very powerful."

Chai and I returned to our camp on the eastern side of the town and Dimitri was just as surprised and elated at the appearance of our friend as I had been. The rest of our company, at least those that had not already gone to town, caught on to our good mood and greeted Chai warmly, except for Gerrex who merely nodded to him. There was a flicker of some emotion across Chai's face when Brey greeted him warmly as an old friend before leaving us and heading into town.

"Friends," I said to those gathered around us, "Dimitri and I will watch our camp. Please, go into town and enjoy yourselves, it will be a long time before you will get to enjoy another party."

We were soon alone, except for Gerrex who found a comfortable spot in large willow branch that let him see all around, and Charlie who stood by himself on a flat bit of land next to the small river that flowed through the town and near a large willow tree a hundred yards (meters) away. In his hands he wielded the black longsword Lord Malice had given to him. He cut the air doing exercises and drills ceaselessly and even from this distance I could see the sweat staining his shirt down the back and under his arms. He seemed, well, driven to practice and his face was already showing exhaustion, but he kept practicing. The rest of our party left, laughing and talking loudly. When we were alone, Dimitri and I quickly related the nature of our quest to Chai.

"Why does our patron seek this Bloodstone?" He asked.

"He did not give any reason," I replied truthfully, "but he is willing to pay well to get it."

"So you have left your quiet life to pursue danger once more for the mere attainment of gold?"

Chai's question was really an admonition. Chai's order eschews the material things for the spiritual and I could see his point and even though my participation in this quest was not voluntary, I still felt small, and even defensive.

"You can be assured," I replied in dull tone, "that my reasons for leading this quest have nothing to do with acquiring gold. I am here because I must be here for reasons that are my own."

"Of course," Chai said with a smile, "I should not have accused you of such base motivations. You have always been a man, right or wrong, who pursued what he thought he should do."

I nodded back, but I still felt uncomfortable with that little interchange. Partly because I was put off by the accusation and by the fact that I had not been fully truthful with him about Valker and his condition and I probably should have, since I told Dimitri, but Chai was sent by his master, and I could tell him later.

"I was just remembering the time," Chai said distracting me from my reverie, "when we were in that old Varanian fortress and you fell in the well."

Dimitri, who remembered that event as well, started laughing at the memory of that particularly embarrassing situation I found myself in when the rotten boards I was walking on gave out from beneath me.

We spent the next quarter of an hour talking about that day, and many hours reliving old memories of our adventures together, although we never talked about the last one. We explained what had happened to us since leaving Gensmot, and his face showed amazement at our story of meeting two dragons and the Death Knights and Lowen. As I did not carry a staff, which I know is very un-wizardly of me, so I gave the Staff of Striking to Chai, to replace his normal bronze shod staff. The Staff of Striking was capped at either end with silver and it was perfectly smooth and was the color of old ivory. Chai took it with a nod of thanks.

It was late in the evening, almost midnight and the moon was up, full and bright, when our compatriots started coming back in, walking easily by the light of the moon. Charles was sitting by our small campfire, on one of the saddle-like stools Godfrey had bought holding his longsword in his arms and looking strangely protective of it. He said nothing but looked sullenly into the flames of the fire. Gerrex was in his tent and was sleeping as was Dimitri. Chai was meditating and I stood near the ring of lights and looked over the landscape. A slight breeze blew in cool from the west and the crickets and katydids were singing loudly in the grass. The first one back was Karl, I could feel his emotions before I could hear his whistled song. He was dwarf who was content with the world and he greeted me with a friendly salute as he came in, never missing a note of his song. Next came the mercenaries talking amongst themselves in their native tongue and on their heels was Helena. I could feel the heat of her emotions as she approached. She was upset about something and I peeked inside her mind, which I would normally not do as a courtesy, but I was still unsure about this party and I wanted to keep on top of things because the stakes were just too high not to do so. I saw in her mind Brey with a buxom blonde, the type he preferred, as she led him laughing to a little house near the marketplace. Helena had followed and had looked in the through the cracks of the window shutters. I broke contact then, now that I understood what the problem was now.

But I could still feel her heartbreak.

When she came into camp a few minutes later she was walking stiffly with her arms held straight down and her hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. She stomped past me without speaking and trying to hold in her sobs. She went straight to her tent. Godfrey and Amenaruu came behind her and I figured Brey would not be back at all this night. Since he was not needed to guard the camp this night, it was not a problem for the party, only for Helena's piece of mind.

I was relieved by one of the mercenaries and I too went to my tent, but only long enough to take off my linen gambeson and helmet and to grab my bedroll, which I spread out underneath the largest wagon. Charles was still brooding by the fire as I spread my wool cloak over me and I was soon asleep. I must have slept for several hours for when I awoke it was still dark but the moon was almost much touching the tops of the western hills. I heard someone talking, and I reached out with my mind and found that Brey had returned to the camp and had been challenged by the guard. He walked past where I was lying, but I could only see his boots and his legs up to his mid-thigh, but I felt a wave of sadness from him, but I fell back asleep too tired to care about it.

As there was only one more day of the festival, I decided not to leave just yet. If nothing else, it would have looked suspicious. The day had dawned clear and bright and we ate our breakfast in silence. No one needed a magic pendant to know how Helena felt this morning and everyone was cat-footing around her. Brey was still asleep as we ate and we all left the fire as soon as we could. Syzmon and his party were up and we waved to each other as we took our fighting gear away from camp. Soon we were swinging willow branches at each other and enjoying ourselves away from Helena. I felt sorry for her that she did not have another female here to commiserate with her. None of us knew what to do.

"Do you remember what I taught you?" Chai asked me.

"Of course," I replied with feigned hurt.

"Then let us put down the toy weapons and practice as real fighters," Chai said, "like we use to do."

"Very well," I replied drawing my new magical blade. Since both the staff Chai was using was magical as well as my sword, we did not have to worry about damaging either. We stepped out away from the semi-circle of our compatriots. I was not feeling as nearly confident as I sounded since I had not practiced with my sword much until we left Gensmot on this trip. We squared up and took our ready positions and we nodded to each other to tell the other we were ready to begin. Almost immediately, Chai launched his staff into a thrust aimed right at my face. Had it connected, it would have killed me, I think. But I brought my sword down from a hanging guard to an inside guard while turning my shoulder so the staff scraped along my blade and whistling past my left ear. I kept my blade in contact with the staff and tried to advance but Chai was too quick and he disengaged and skipped back.

I knew that with his longer weapon that I had to keep the centerline guarded. I was just able to jump back to avoid a vicious spinning attack aimed at my ankles. Chai used that momentum to spin into a jump and bring the staff down with only my high block, barely in time, blocking the blow. I felt the power of the blow in my arm. Once again, Chai used his agility to dance back, keeping me at the optimal reach of his weapon. He then did a series of fast blows as he kept the end of the staff in a constant blurring motion. Somehow I survived that onslaught, although only the guard on my cutlass saved me from broken fingers a couple of time when my guards were too slow.

"Tsk, tsk," Chai admonished me. "You have not been practicing…"

Chai launched his attack even as he spoke catching me flat-footed, and getting a brazing blow to my left ribs that stung horribly, but was not serious.

"You are too easily distracted for a warrior," Chai admonished me like one his temple's students.

"I am not a warrior," I replied through gritted teeth. "I am a mage."

I had taken off my Girdle of Storm Giant Strength, as it would not have been fair, but I quickly spoke two spells in Arcane. The first was a haste spell and the second was for Tenser's Transformation. Within seconds, I knew the intimidating power of the spell was working because I saw Chai frown. I then launched my own attack, my speed doubled.

Every cut I made was turned aside by Chai's staff, but with each new flurry of blows I inched closer until Chai was no longer using his Long Staff technique, but was holding the staff so that it his hands were about a third of the way in from the ends. Our blows, parries, blocks, and counter-blows fell like flashing rain and magical sparks jumped from each ringing clack the weapons made when they impacted each other. No one, not even someone enchanted with spells, could hold that pace for long and we both lunged away from each other after a good thirty seconds of fury and thunder.

I panted as I stood back out of reach of the staff, and I could see Chai was also winded. I saluted Chai my sword and he returned it with his staff.

"Are your ribs sore?" Chai asked with a serious face.

"They are fine," I replied, "but you had better get that cut looked after."

Chai looked down with surprise at the cut on his right forearm. Such was the fury of our battle he had not noticed it. I was surprised as well, as I had never landed a blow, even a minor one like this one, before on Chai. I grinned at him and he grinned back and gave me another salute.

We were both congratulated by our comrades and I got not a few slaps on my back from the demonstration of my wizardly fighting method.

I sat down in the grass where there was some shade and watched the rest of the fighters engage in practice bouts. None of them were as intense as the one Chai and I had just fought. As I watched and caught my breath I saw Helena walking toward me. Her blue dress swishing around her ankles and collecting the dew that was still on the grass in the shade. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her eyes were puffy and red from crying. I could feel her fighting to keep her spirits up.

Yes, Helena?" I asked.

"I have made up my mind," she said without formalities, "and I want to be your apprentice."

I knew she had come to this decision because she was heartbroken and she was feeling vulnerable. I stared intently at my friends practicing their fighting for several minutes before speaking.

"Ask me again in two weeks," I finally replied, "and if you can cast at least one of the First Level spells I gave you, I will say yes."

That was not the answer she wanted to hear, but she could not fault me for my decision. She really had spent too much time mooning over Brey and had not earned the right to an apprenticeship without some demonstration of her ability to commit to an apprenticeship.

"Very well," she replied stiffly and left.

"I hope you fail," I said under my breath. "You will be a lot of trouble."


	25. Chapter 25

There was a last bit of fun for my people that last day. Gerrex and I spent the day mapping the town with my Varanian survey gear, as neither of us wanted to be around a lot of people. I explained everything involved in the surveying process to Gerrex, who just grunted in response to what I said, but he did actually seem interested in what I was doing. At least he understood how an accurate map could be useful. Charles and Helena stayed in camp, Charles whirling his longsword until he fell to the ground in exhaustion, and Helena meditating intensely upon the first level mandala I had given her. She seemed determined to meet my deadline, at least for now. She seemed to be an emotional sort, who knew if her passion for magic would last long enough for her to make something of herself as a mage. I suspected that if Brey made overtures toward her, she would drop the magic like a hot rock despite his liaison with that local girl.

When night was upon us, Syzmon and some of his people joined us for dinner and we passed a pleasant evening and when the morning came, we said our farewells and we started out our separate ways. By mid-morning we were rambling along an almost obliterated Varanian trackway that was little more than a shallow depression in the tall grass that grew straight and green all around on these plains. Above us, the sky was blue and clear and the morning warm, although Karl swore by his bad knee that more rain was coming. As we got closer to the mountains, the grass would change from a long grass prairie to a short grass prairie and our going would be easier. We constantly flushed rabbits, grouse, and dozen other birds and in the distance we could see herds of antelopes dotting the plains and once we saw a bear. We were on the north side of the little river now and moving away from it. The few watercourses we crossed were shallow and easily forded. I insisted that we refill all of water containers at every one of them to make sure we were not caught these almost featureless, and often times very dry plains without adequate water. I remember going thirsty for several days and losing a good horse to the lack of water on an adventure, and I was not about to allow that to happen again. Sometimes it seemed that being a good leader meant knowing what problems could occur and making sure you had the solutions before you got to the problem, at least that is how I did it.

In due course, I found myself riding besides the small wagon with Amenaruu and Helena. The big wagon rumbled and creaked ahead of us and my people were moving along the sides of the wagons with Gerrex scouting out ahead. Charles followed in the rear, constantly moving from side to side swinging his longsword at grasshoppers and butterflies that flew past him.

"I have been working on learning my magic," Helena said to me as I came near.

"So I have seen," I replied with a nod, but not really looking directly at her. "What else have you learned?"

"What do you mean? "She asked puzzled at the question.

"You are studying to be a mage," I replied, this time looking at her. "You have little to no power, and even if you master some First Level magic in the next few weeks and even with that ring I charged with spells for you, you will still be the weakest member of this party. I can tell you did not like me saying that, but I am not condemning you personally, this is the case for all wizards, not just you. We are all weak in the beginning of our careers. It takes time to accumulate magical power. One of the things that you can do to compensate for a lack of spell casting is to know things. The more knowledge, the more skills you have, the more problems you can solve. Fighting and adventuring are just different sorts of problems that need to be solved."

"But what can I learn out here in the middle of nowhere?" She demanded of me. "We have no books, no tutors out here."

"You are," I pointed out to her, "sitting next to a most learned man who comes from one of the oldest civilizations in the world. How much of the Stygian language can you speak now after traveling next to him for several weeks? Who is the current Pharaoh of Kemt? What are the major geographical features of his homeland?

"You are condemning me," she replied, with a pout. "You are angry at me for wasting my time."

"Helena, when or if you become my apprentice, that is when I will worry about how you are spending your time. Until then, what you do is your business and only you can know if you have been wasting your time."

We rode on in silence as Amenaruu looked over at us surreptitiously from time to time, but said he nothing and neither did I.

"If you were my master," Helena asked me after several minutes of silence, "what is it that you would have me learn when I was not meditating on my magic."

I could see by the smile on Amenaruu's face that he was pleased she had asked such a wise question. I got the impression that he was secretly cheering her on and hoping she would do well.

"The first thing you need to know is that magic is power," I answered her. "Once you start to wield it, events will start to happen around you. The more power you have, the more you will become the focus of attention and, if you follow the normal course of things, the more you want that attention as it will make you think you are important. But the problem with being important is that not all of the attention you get will be beneficial to you. That applies to a lot of different things, especially in combat where spellcasters are the first to be targeted. That is why I never dress like a wizard as I want to make it as hard as possible for someone to recognize my status in a group. I have avoided several crossbow bolts fired from ambuscade that way."

"How much power do you wield?" Helena asked me. "The really powerful mages live in castles."

The question was impertinent, but thanks to my medallion I knew it was meant as an honest question, so I did not take offense and I answered, "Enough to make my way in the world as my own man without having to lick the boots of another, but not so much that I can refuse all of the attention directed at me."

"You are talking about how you were made to go on this trip." Helena observed.

I did not answer her directly but I said to her, "You would do well to start looking at the world differently. Collect knowledge and skills like they are precious gems. Be curious and use your time now to prepare for the next problem to come along. You can generally get an idea of what is likely to happen by paying attention to what is going on around you, but more importantly, why it is happening. Soon, you will build up a series of solutions to the more common problems you will encounter. A good exercise is to take different objects, spells, even people, and try to figure out different ways of doing things with them. This will expand your capacity to solve problems."

We were just coming up on another fording, although the stream was only three long steps for a man, when Dimitri called out to me, "Gerrex is coming back and he is riding fast."

I looked up and saw our Orc scout riding as fast as he could toward us as behind him I could grass and debris being kicked up.

"Why is he running from dust devils? Godfrey asked as he saw the three truncated upside down cones dancing in the tall grass.

"The ground is too wet for dust devils and there is no wind," I replied loudly so that all could hear me. "Those are Air Elementals!"

Our Venetti mercenaries dropped off their horses and grabbed their pavise shields from where they hung on the side of the wagon and tied their horses to the same hooks. One of the elementals, who had been traveling in a line, more or less, broke away and jumped into the stream bed. Gerrex came thundering in at the same time a stone, thrown by the whirling mass of air, bounced off the side of our wagon like a stone thrown by a sling. If that damn elemental was not very accurate, it made up for its lack of accuracy with sheer volume as stones flew in with a whizzing sound like a swarm of hornets.

"Protect the horses," I cried out to my people as I slid out of my saddle. I looked over and found Amenaruu and Helena off their wagon and hiding behind it as the priest reached for his shield. Helena was just cowering, her eyes wide in fear.

"Stand in front of the horses and protect them! I ordered her.

"Have you gone mad?" She demanded of me as rock grazed the top of one of the side rails and sent broken splinters flying.

"You are wearing a magic amulet that protects you as long as you face the threat!" I said back to her. "Keep your back to the horses and you will be okay."

At least I hoped she would be okay, the spell was not foolproof against normal missiles, but the horses were a much larger target and already two of them were rearing in pain from being struck by rocks. Helena, her face pale and her eyes wide with fear stepped out from the wagon and stood in front of the horses.

"Use your Magic Missile spell on the closest one!" I ordered her before turning to see Dimitri jump into a head first roll to avoid being hit and come to his feet behind me, using me and my spell as a shield. This was not a cowardly act, but one of necessity as he had no protection from the incoming missiles and we could now easily communicate.

I cast my own shield spell first and with that in place, I stood up and walked to the outside of our makeshift perimeter and began my next spell. Rocks flew and deflected off of my spell, which allowed me time to cast. Amenaruu was still hiding, but he chanted out a song to bring down a blessing upon us all and that would help us fight these things in a general way. Chai's staff was spinning faster than my eyes could follow it as he deflected incoming fusillade with it. Brey ducked the best he could, but I saw him grimace and heard him cry out as stone the size of a large man's fist bounced of his mailed shoulder as he reached for a pavise shield to help the Venetti set up a defense.

My next spell was ready and I spoke the arcane words and shimmering wall of ice a foot thick (30.5 centimeters) and seventy feet long (21 meters) long suddenly appeared between us and the elementals. The elemental who had been spinning ceased its attacked and moved toward us, but another took up the barrage, but this time we had more protection thanks to my wall, although sparkling chunks of ice flew out into the sunshine as the rocks hammered on it and I knew it would not last long.

Two of the elementals moved to go around the wall as the third and closest to us continued to spin and throw rocks. Luckily, all of this did not break Helena's concentration and the wall was transparent enough for her to see her target, the spinning elemental, and she launched her Magic Missile attack. The six bolts of pure white energy went up over the wall and back down, following her will to strike the elemental fairly and it screamed out a loud reedy, high-pitched scream of pain or anger. It ceased spinning and threw itself angrily against the ice wall.

By now, crossbow bolts from the Venetti were flying out. They were the black bolts from the Death Knights, and they flashed out like black pieces of lightning as the dark life stealing energy surrounding them came into visible existence. Several of the crossbow bolts went astray from the winds that elementals were generating, despite the magical blessing of our priest and the magic in the bolts, but one struck home with a sizzling burst of black energy and we heard another high-pitched wail.

I cast my haste spell on my comrades, which increased our physical speed, but unfortunately, it did not increase the number of spells I could cast. Magic followed its own rules. I heard the sound of ice cracking and I turned to look. My ice wall was holding despite being battered and chipped and I thought it would hold a little while longer. I grabbed Helena by the hand and led her to stand in the gap between two of the wicker pavise shields to provide more protection for the horses.

"Lightning bolt," I said to her and pointed at one of the elementals. Still overwhelmed by the fury of combat, she just nodded. Charles, his long sword drawn and in a guard position came to stand by his sister. More crossbow bolts flew out, two of them hitting one of the elementals, while two flew off track, buffeted by the winds the elementals were generating. Now that the party has a Haste spell upon them, there would be more bolts flying out than before.

Most of my people had moved to face the two elementals coming toward or left flank, I turned and ran to take on the elemental coming around the right hand flank that Helena had wounded with her magic missile spell. It had apparently decided the wall was too much trouble to deal with. Luckily for us, they were easy to track in the long grass and I could move quicker than normal. As it came around the edge of the wall, I shouted out the command word and a lightning bolt flew out of my fingers in a white-blue flash that made the super-heated air crack with a miniature thunder clap. My spell overcame the innate magical resistance of the monster and lightning played over the elemental. Once it again it screamed, but it came after me with a vengeful purpose.


	26. Chapter 26

The elemental shifted into its tornado form just as it struck me and my lacquered helmet, not being tied by the strap, flew off my head. Dirt and grass, but thankfully no rocks, swirled inside the aerial maelstrom blinding and choking me. At this moment, with my hands held before me, I was "in contact" with the elemental I screamed out the Arcane word and triggered my Bigby's Shocking Grasp spell. Electricity flared out from my fingertips just as the elemental brought my helmet back around and smashed it into my head hard enough to knock me out.

My comrades would tell me later, it was exactly at that moment when the other two attacked in the same manner, slamming into the party. Charles swung his longsword and missed and rewarded for his efforts by being tossed twenty feet (6 meters) into the grass breaking his arm. The small wagon was tossed over on its side, its contents spilling and Karl and several of the Venetti mercenaries were tossed as well. Brey, favoring is injured left arm thrust his magic sword into the swirling air mass of the elemental as Amenaruu's spiritual hammer slammed into the thing and destroyed it, mainly because its essence on the Prime Material Plane was already damaged by Helena's lightning bolt. Dimitri and Chai used their agility and magical weapons to launch attacks on the elemental. Gerrex, holding his shield up to block any rocks or other debris being tossed about, thrust his sword into the monster, eliciting another high pitched scream. Since they were inside the monster, the two standing Venetti crossbowmen still standing could not miss with their crossbows and they fired of their bolts and were immediately rewarded with black energy bursts that tore the monster apart.

I was not unconscious for long, but the fight was over by the time I did regain my consciousness. My vision swam and I could for a moment or two at a time see clearly, but I could not think. I verged on blacking out several times and reality was a disjointed series of images that made no sense to me. I could see the small wagon sitting on its side, its contents spread upon the ground. The ice wall fell apart, tinkling as it dissipated. Several party members were down and everyone looked disheveled and more than a little stunned at the ferocity of the attack. I felt someone lift me to a sitting position, making me almost vomit from pain and nausea. They pulled open my gambeson and lift my healing potion flask and press it to my lips. I drank by instinct, and a sudden white hot spike of pain crashed into my head. When it faded, my vision and my senses were restored. I was surprised to see that my benefactor was Gerrex. I had expected it to be Dimitri, but he was kneeling beside Karl. Helena was tending to her brother and our cleric was with the mercenaries.

I rose to my feet and nodded to Gerrex and I quickly went to see what the damage was. I came up to Dimitri and looked down on our dwarf fighter. I could see in an instant his neck was broken. Petrio, one of the Venetti, was dead, as well. Two horses were badly injured and one was dead. Godfrey was bleeding from a cut on the side of his head was doing his best to calm the horses down. Gerrex soon joined him in looking after our beasts.

The three elementals had attacked intelligently, which is unusual for them, and that told me they were being directed somehow. I knew that our unseen enemy could not be far from us, but the attack had been so vicious it would take us time to regroup and put ourselves right, and I was sure they would be long gone by the time we able to search for them.

Amenaruu cast his Cure Light Wounds spells on the less injured among us. I went to get some healing potions and cursed when I saw half of them had been broken and were soaking the ground. Since another attack might be imminent, we had little choice but distribute some of the potions to get back into fighting shape. There were moans and curses as the healing potions did their work but exacting a toll in pain for their effects. One of the horses was badly injured, a broken leg from having the wagon flipped over while still hitched to it. I told our Cleric to use his Cure Serious Wounds spell on the beast. Out here, it was too important to let it die. The spell got it back on its feet, but it was still injured. Once Amenaruu regained his spells he would treat the beast again since we could not treat such a large animal with our healing potions.

I asked Dimitri to help me unload the rest of the goods from the overturned wagon after inspecting it to make sure it was still sound. Once the gear was unloaded and the horses unhitched I used my levitate spell to lift it up and then we flipped it over and set it on its wheels. We then began to reload the wagon, taking stock of what we had lost or what had been destroyed. If we had not been gifted with the magic from Lowen and his associates, this encounter would have destroyed us, of that I am sure.

Once were back in some semblance of order, Amenaruu called us into say the rites for our dead. Using my Dig spell, I opened up their grave, promising to make it into a proper tomb on the morrow. We wrapped them in shrouds and buried them with weapons and armor, but not their magical ones. This may seem greedy and mean spirited, but it was practical and adventurers have little use for sentimentality.

Once our dead had been buried, I informed everyone that I was going to look for our attacker. I did not wait for them to say anything about coming along, but I spoke the Arcane spell of Polymorph Self, and I changed myself into a Red Tailed Hawk, my preferred flying form. I launched myself into the air, my arm/wings beating with vigor, until I had climbed a thousand feet (305 meters) into the sky. I rode the thermals as I began to circle our current location, using my excellent vision to scan the ground. In a fold in the land, that would have hidden anyone from view upon the ground, I saw wisps of smoke arising from a small campfire, the tall grass had been trampled down but there was no one around. Laid out in lines of powdered chalk was a summoning circle. I had found where our enemy hand launched his, or hers, attack upon us. I continued my search as long as I could before turning back. I dove down to my friends and flaired my wings to slow my descent and then the spell expired and I returned to human form, having to run a few steps to take up the rest of my momentum.

"I found where they summoned the elementals," I announced without preamble, "but I did not see anyone around for ten miles (16km). Either they are invisible, or they teleported away. I suspect the latter."

"They hit us hard," Dimitri said, "which means they fear what we are doing. I wonder how much they know of our quest?"

"It may not be the object of our quest they are interested in," I replied. "Remember, Lowen said they had auguries about us, even the evil ones. It may well be that our enemy has had the same. We do not really know what this cult is capable of, although so far this has been the normal sort of summoning, if it has been particularly strong. That strength might be due to the Illios star entering into the Constellation of the Serpent and making the barrier between the planes easier to violate. It will only get worse when the red star Illios becomes the 'Eye of the Serpent.'"

"You are aware of this?" Chai asked me, surprised.

"Yes," I replied, "why are you surprised?"

"It is something only our wisest people at the monastery have knowledge of," Chai replied with a shrug, "it is very obscure lore. My abbot spoke of it before he sent me west."

"What is this Illios and Serpent all about?" Charles demanded of me.

I gave my comrades a brief explanation of what I had learned from the Sages of the White Tower.

"You lied to us when you said you would tell us everything about this quest," Charles accused me openly.

My anger began to slow burn and I gritted my teeth and replied, "Whether or not Illios is a threat to the world, it has nothing to do with this quest, at least nothing directly to do with it. The effect it has on summoning beings from another plane is a general condition that will be affecting the entire world. Illios and has nothing to do with the Bloodstone. If I had known you wanted to know about summoning spells and the effect of astronomical phenomena on them I would have been glad to tell you."

"You have lied to us from the beginning and you are lying to us now!" Charles spat out at me.

I took two big steps, and thanks to my Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, I easily picked up the petulant little shit and shook him until his teeth rattled.

"You stupid little boy!" I shouted in his face. His eyes were wide with fear at how easily I tossed him about. "If you ever accuse me of that again I will break both your arms! Pack your things, take your sister, and leave. I do not want you and I do not need you in this party."

My anger, exacerbated by the death of our friends, took over me and I threw Charles across the camp and he rolled to a stop on the ground. He shook his head to clear it and then he jumped to his feet and drew his black sword. Still angry, I was just summoning up another lightning bolt, which would have fried him where he stood when our companions began jumping on us, all except Gerrex who obviously thought it was time I dealt with an inferior that has been showing me too much disrespect.


	27. Chapter 27

The fight was stopped by our companions' intervention but my anger was much slower to dissipate. I found my breathing beginning to get ragged as I realized how close I had come to killing Charles. My heart beat in my chest like drum being played by a madman. I could feel another episode coming upon me like a storm on the horizon. Shaking, I made it to my tent and sat heavily on my stool and I began my breathing trick. Slow breath in through the nose, hold it for a count of five, slowly release the breath in my lungs, pause for a count of five and then repeat. I teetered on the edge of collapse, but the technique worked and my heart slowed down and the panic that had come out of the darkness deep in my own mind subsided and fled back to its cave.

"Barrim," Dmitri's voice came from outside of my tent, "can I enter?"

"Yes," I replied, although I would have preferred more time alone. My hands were still shaking, either from the near fight or from the attack, or perhaps both. Dimitri came carrying a wine sack and two wooden cups. He poured the red liquid from the skin into the cups and handed me one.

"You want to know if Charles and his sister are being kicked out of the party." I said that as a statement and not a question.

"We have had a bad day," Dimitri said. "What the boy did was foolish, but he has never seen death before and he was partial to the old dwarf. Godfrey is talking sense to him right now, as is his sister, but it is up to you if he stays or if he goes."

"Any reason to keep him around?" I asked.

"We need his sword arm," replied Dimitri, "although he is not impressive with a blade, he is dedicated to learning. We started short-handed, and that situation has only gotten worse. The girl is more problematic, unless she begins to master the Arcane Arts, she will be of little use."

"She is trying," I replied. "But I wonder if I am doing them right by having them come along. This journey is more perilous than I thought it would be. Perhaps sending them back would save their lives?"

"Maybe," replied Dimitri, "but there is no shortage of things that will kill you in this world. If we separated from them, our enemies might take the opportunity to kill them since they will not have our protection."

"True," I said as I drained the last of the wine in my cup, "but I cannot have mutiny in the party."

"I will be responsible for him and he will be informed," Dimitri answered, "if ever tries something that stupid again, that I will kill him myself."

"That is good enough," I said, "but only if he gives a sincere apology, and by that I mean one that you do not tell him to make."

"Fair enough," Dimitri replied as he nodded, his lips pursed in thought. A half hour later, Dimitri and I were still discussing strategies for defending our camp from further attack when we were interrupted.

"Boss," Godfrey said as he stuck his head in through the tent's flap, "Charles and his sister would like to speak with you."

I looked over at Dimitri and he gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. I knew exactly what he meant by that gesture after having campaigned together for so many years. He was waiting for fate to cast her die. We left the tent and the entire party was gathered around. Charles stood next to his sister in the semi-circle of people around the front of my tent.

"Mage Barrim," Charles said after his sister elbowed him, "in my anger and grief, I said things that were not true and that should never have been spoken. I truly regret having said those things, and I ask for your forgiveness and understanding on this day when we lost our companions."

I looked intently at the boy, who refused to look me in the eye and I could feel his shame and remorse, and some anger still, thanks to my amulet. Still, I had to make things clear to him.

"Charles, look me in the eye so you know I am telling you the truth," I said and Charles turned his brown eyes and pale face up to look into mine. "Trust must come from both sides, you may not trust me, but I know I do not trust you, now. I do, however, trust Dimitri. I will give you another chance, but know this, I am only doing so because Dimitri has taken responsibility for you. What you did today weakened the party with strife, making it easier for our enemies to destroy us. It may be that we gain each other's trust again someday, but if you do anything like this again, either Dimitri or I will kill you. A party such as ours cannot withstand division within itself, and I will not allow you to put the others at risk again. Am I understood in this matter?"

Charles nodded his understanding and I continued, "Do you wish to continue with this party from now on and fulfill the oath you gave to this party, or do you wish to take the treasures you have already received and depart?"

"Both my sister and I would like to stay with the party."

Helena nodded in agreement with her brother and I said to them, "Then you both may continue to travel with us. Now, it is getting late, and another attack may yet happen. Let us prepare as best we can for a renewed assault."

We got to work preparing for another attack, our enchanted lanterns were placed well out away from us so that we could see further and yet they formed a barrier of light that made it difficult to see us in the center where it was dark. We were down a crossbowman, but Helena, Godfrey, and Anton spoke to each other with much gesturing and pantomime. Soon they had a couple of tall forked sticks stuck in the ground and the dead man's crossbow was laid in the forks so Helena, who was not strong enough to hold the heavy the crossbow up long enough to aim it, now had a perch to set it that would allow her to load and fire the weapon. Good, she was using her head to make herself more useful to the group. Thanks to Lowen's gift, I only needed a few minutes to restore the spells I had cast and place in my mind some new ones for the morrow once that was done I sought out Helena, or more accurately, Helena's mind with the medallion.

She was in her tent, staring at the mandala and dealing with the first cold touches of a headache coming on. An idea struck me and I sought out her thoughts and how well she was visualizing the mandala, and I saw that she was having trouble keeping the complex pattern in her mind. I had long mastered the first level mandala, and I thought I might use the medallion to help her, so I projected my thoughts into her mind, overlaying my mental picture over hers. She gasped as the mandala suddenly came into clear focus in her mind and for the first time she truly understood what the symbol represented. This did not mean she could cast any spells yet, since that required the caster to mentally rearrange the symbols in the mandala to create the desired effect, but this was a good start. I backed my thoughts out and she held the image for a few moments, but then it began to fray at the edges, so I reinforced the image again for a few minutes and then let go. She held on to it for a few minutes more, but then it frayed and the mandala was lost. Still it was progress, and I could feel her satisfaction at the breakthrough.

I thought about what I had done, and I wondered if what I was doing was right? My dragon-gifted medallion allowed me to look where people should not be able to look. It is true, there exists spells that allow mages to peer into the minds of others, but I have never engaged in them. Such things seem wrong somehow, it was like peeking into someone's window to me, and I did not care much for it. The threat we were under made justifying peering into other's private thoughts easier than it should have been. The ability to feel emotions was less intrusive since one could usually decipher how another was feeling by other methods, and I decided to rely more on that feature than on actually looking into people's minds, unless it was an emergency. Of course, I would have to figure out what exactly constituted an emergency.

I stood up suddenly, tired of having to justify what I did and tired of having to worry about other people who died despite doing everything I could to keep them alive. Bitterly, I thought of my shop and my home and wished I was there for the hundredth time.

I left my tent and went out into the night air and listened. The cicadas and crickets sang their monotonous song and the Illios, the Star of Ill Omen, was approaching the Serpent constellation with relentless precision. That gave me an idea. You can roast a goose as well as a gander in the same fire, my old master use to tell me, and so I went down to the little stream and collected a bucketful of smooth white stones and brought them back to camp where I laid them out in a circle. Satisfied, I went to bed under a wagon and I searched the darkness around our camp for the thoughts of any who approached us in the night. I was still doing that when I dozed off and I did not awake until I heard Godfrey moving about getting our breakfast ready in the early false dawn of a new day.

After breakfast, when the sun was up and bright and the sky blue and clear we gathered around the graves of our friends once again. Using the Mud to Stone spell I had prepared, I changed the dirt around their grave cut to into solid stone, making it a tomb. Next, I used the Stone Shape spell to raise up a simple obelisk up about four feet (1.2m) high and eighteen inches (46cm) thick at the bottom. Using a variation of the Mage Mark spell, I wrote the following on the face of the obelisk:

KARL BREAKAXE OF THE FAR HEIGHS CLAN

AND

PETRIO VELAHIO OF VENETTI

THEY WERE TRUE COMPANIONS

The last thing I did was to cast a Continual Light spell on the very point of the Obelisk so their tomb would never know darkness.


	28. Chapter 28

I will not lie to you and tell you that my adventuring party was a happy one, at least not for several days, but adventurers are not the sentimental sort and as we moved through the featureless landscapes of the prairies, seeing only the herds of antelope and wild cattle grazing on the tall grass and the flocks of more species of birds than I could name flying out in great twisting clouds.

We left the ancient road we had been following and took a more random path so our unknown attacker could not so easily prepare another ambuscade for us. It did drag out the time we spent traveling, but two weeks passed and we were not attacked. I always did an aerial scout just before sunset after our party had set up for the night. That almost killed me.

Using the superior vision of a hawk, I scanned the ground surrounding us for miles, enjoying the amazing view my form allowed me. My medallion, although it was in a pocket universe the greater mass of my human body and gear was "stored", was still connected to my mind, although it was not as efficient as before and so I only felt the hot anger of my attacker a second before he, or she, struck at me from above.

I twisted, around and the tail spikes from the manticore whistled past me, except for the one that pierced my left wing. The pain was white hot and I immediately began to tumble. The manticore let out a roaring-scream of triumph. Manticores are a winged lion with the oversized face of a man and lions tail, but on that tail were spikes, not unlike a porcupine's, but with the diameter of an ogre's thumb. By whipping their tails, they could fling the spines with great force. The effect was like getting hit with a crossbow bolt and just as painful.

Despite the pain, I was able to see three things immediately. My friends were looking up and were now aware of the threat, and I thought I had time to cast two spells before I hit the ground. I instantly changed back into my human form as the universe warped around me to allow me to replace my mass. I was falling with my back to the ground, so I could see the surprise on the manticore's face at my sudden change in form. It was even more surprised when it took a lightning bolt to the face. The spike that impaled me in what was now my left arm throbbed with every heartbeat. As I was now falling with my back to the earth, and not knowing if I had enough time to pull off my second spell or not, I quickly cast my Feather Fall spell. My rushing descent slowed to gentle drop less than a rapid heartbeat before I felt the long prairie grass reached up to cushion my fall even more and I gently fell upon the ground. Wanting only rest and to not move so my arm would not hurt, I forced myself up to my knees and saw the now scorched manticore coming down in a fast dive straight at me. He flicked his tail up behind him like a scorpion, and then with a great whipping action it flicked it under him losing five more his tail spikes. I got my shield spell up in time to stop them in mid-air and with an angry, frustrated roar-shout the manticore ceased his descent and leveled, his paws just touching the top the tall grass. Before I had a chance to launch a new spell, the manticore, following the folds of the earth, slipped down over one of the shallow, rolling hills that made the prairie undulate like a frozen sea.

I sort of staggered around in a circle, desperate to see if another sneak attack was coming, another lightning spell upon my lips, but there was nothing but another roar-shout a long ways away from the fleeing manticore. I heard the sound of hooves beating on the earth and I turned to see three riders, Gerrex, Dimitri, and Helena riding toward. Gerrex, a superb horseman, did not use his reigns, but controlled his horse with his knees as he held his bow with a magic arrow knocked and ready to fire. Dimitri carried his light crossbow in his right as he rested the buttstock on his right thigh. Helena road just ahead of and to the right of the other two, her face worried, but I saw relief on her face as she saw me standing and not dashed on the ground dead from the fall, although the look of worry returned to her face when she saw the spike sticking out of my arm and the blood soaking into my shirtsleeve.

"Mant…manticore," I said with difficulty as my friends rode up. Suddenly my throat was dry and rough.

"We saw it," Dimitri said. "We saw it fly away.

"Oh," I replied stupidly and I suddenly felt my knees buckle and I landed on my backside with a thump that sent news waves of fire out from the spike I my arm. I think I blacked out for a moment for when I opened my eyes my friends were all around me.

"We need to take this spine out," Dimitri said, "before the healing magic can be used. It has gone straight through the bone and likely broken it."

Gerrex grunted something that I did not hear clearly but a second later Dimitri shoved a bit of foul tasting leather in my mouth. I tried to object to this treatment, but Gerrex slammed the palm of his hand down on the base of the spine, driving it further into my arm with the point going out further from the back of my arm. Gerrex then took the point, now that he could get a firm grip, and ripped it from arm. I bit down on the leather shoved in my mouth and screamed, although the leather muffled the sound somewhat. I wanted to pass out and not feel the pain, but I was denied that comfort. My friends laid me on my back and I lay there with my eyes closeds and I could smell the warm earth and green of the grass and hear the buzzing of insects like distant, half-remembered things. I focused only on controlling my breathing. Within time, the pain subsided to a throbbing ache and I opened my eyes to see my friends looking down at me with concern.

"Help me up, I said to them. With their assistance, I regained my feet and looked around. I was steadier, the magic of my ring having stopped the bleeding and had started the process of knitting the bone and flesh back together.

"Water?" I asked.

Helena gave me her waterskin and I drank deeply from it. The tepid water was like ambrosia to my dry throat and I lowered the skin a much better man.

"I do not feel we have the luxury of calling that a random encounter," Dimitri said to us all.

"You are right," I replied. "Someone knew my routine and decided launch and ambuscade against me. They almost succeeded. We should get back to our party."

"Do you want a healing potion?" Helena asked.

I shook my head and said, "No, my ring will heal me in time.

"Want to ride on my horse?" Dimitri asked me.

"I will walk back," I said to him. "But let us get going."

Dimitri, who knew my ways, and Gerrex who did not pry into a person's private decisions, said nothing and remounted their horses. Helena, perplexed at what I was doing looked at me with a look that was half worry and half-incredulous anger.

"You must ride back, or take a potion!" She said emphatically. "Dimitri, make him ride back."

"No." He replied with a shake of head. "I am not going to but my head against that wall."

"Let us go, girl," I said to Helena and holding my injured left arm in the crook of my right arm I began the half mile (.9 km) trek back to our campsite.

"I can ride quickly and bring you back your own horse," Helena volunteered.

"There is no need," I replied staring straight ahead, with my arm throbbing with every step. "We have enough time to get there before dark."

Helena was desperately mad at me, but I ignored her the best I could, but we had not gone very far when she spoke up again.

"You stubborn, stubborn man!" She exclaimed in exasperation. "Why are you making yourself suffer like this?"

I turned to her equally exasperated by her insistence and said, "I am walking in pain to teach myself a lesson. I got careless. I was thinking too much about how much I was enjoying myself as a hawk and not paying enough attention to potential threats. This is how I teach myself not to be a fool."

"Friend Barrim," Dimitri announced in the light tone of someone who prefer to let fate play out its whims as it see fit, "is far harder on himself than he is on others, if you wish to know the truth. He takes all these things we do with such seriousness.

"Oh, how stupid!" Helena said in an angry tone before spurring her horse and riding quickly back to our camp.

"Am I stupid?" I asked Dimitri.

"You have been known to do a foolish thing or two in your time," replied Dimitri a light hearted declaration. "Most people would take that wound you received as enough of a lesson, but not you. However, it is a part of who you are and we cannot change that, and maybe that is why we are so willing to follow you. We always know that you are doing your best, and that your best is pretty damn good."

"Thank you, my friend," I replied.

"You are welcome," Dimitri replied as he kicked my good shoulder, although it still cause my wound to spike with pain, with the toe of his boot. "Now pick up the pace 'one-arm', I want to get back and finish my supper you interrupted."

"I sure can feel the love around here," I said sarcastically.

Dimitri laughed and even Gerrex grinned a bit at my words.

Back at camp, with the sun blazing red on the western horizon, I reiterated to my companions what had happened and told them to be alert tonight and then I retired to my tent where I could drop the pretense of not feeling the pain of my would . I sat down on my stool with gratitude and let out a breath of air as I rubbed my right hand over my face. I was tempted to drink on of the healing potions or take Amenaruu's offer to have it healed, but I resisted the temptation. My Ring of Regeneration would do the work, and if we should be attacked, I would take a potion then, and not before.

I pulled out the mirror the Argenta had given me, and set it up before me on a small folding table. I closed my eyes and practiced my breath control to bring my mind under control. I opened my eyes to stare at the mirror.

I do not know how long I was at my endeavors before I was brought out of my concentration by Helena entering my tent with some bannock and some stew. I blinked myself back into my own head and looked at her. Her face was pinched with anger and worry, those emotions coming in quite strong from my medallion.

"Here is some food," she said in an abrupt and angry tone.

"You are still upset with me," I said as a statement and not a question.

"Yes," She snapped back, "because you are being foolish."

She sat the bowl and the spoon she carried on the table next to the mirror.

"How are your studies progressing?" I asked her, not wanting to talk about my injuries.

"I am progressing," she said. "But I still cannot perform magic of the first level."

"Sit here on this stool," I replied standing up. I got a copy of the first level mandala and set it against my mirror. I then picked up the food and sat on my bunk. "I am going to help you."

She hesitated, but did what I asked and I saw her face relax as she concentrated on the mandala. I used my medallion to slip into her mind.

"_I am here_," I said in mind talk.

"_Oh!" _She replied mentally.

"_Concentrate on the mandala and I will help you," _I told her.

She brought forth the mandala in her mind's eye, and with my help she held the image there studying its intricacies of interwoven symbols until, with a sensation that was almost physical, true understanding of the mandala came to her in an instant. She held the image on her own as I quietly removed myself from the effort and then left her mind altogether. When I looked at her face, it was lit with triumph.


	29. Chapter 29

The next day came with a bright sun the seemed to cook the very air we were breathing. Helena was in high spirits. I had her cast her first true spell. Mages had long ago figured out that new apprentices should not be given spells of the destruction when the first start out, so I had Helena cast Tenser's Floating disk and carry a log upon the magical platform. She laughed as she did so. It was an infectious laugh and it helped lighten the hearts of my compatriots. I guess it lightened mine as well, since I could feel her joy thanks to my medallion.

"Let us put the firewood on the wagon, now," I said to her. "We need to start off."

Helena, still smiling floated the log over to Godfrey who grabbed it and stacked it with the rest of our firewood. We quickly mounted our horses and began our trek once more. In due course, when the sun was almost overhead, I came up besides the wagon being driven by Amenaruu and Helena. Helena, under Amenaruu's directions was holding the reins and learning how to drive a team. I was pleased she was taking to heart my advice on learning new skills.

"I am learning to drive a team of horses," she announced with pride in her voice.

"So I see," I replied. "That is a useful skill to have."

"Are you going to make me your apprentice?" She asked bluntly. "I have fulfilled the conditions you set forth."

"You have done so," I agreed. "But I will tell you, being a mage is no easy path, and being a mage's apprentice is worse."

"Are you saying you will not keep your promise?"

"Not at all," I replied. "I will honor my word. But be very sure you want this."

"I am not making some young girl's fancy," she replied seriously, "I will accept my responsibilities as an apprentice with great seriousness."

As we had moved across the plains, the grass began to change from the tall grass we had started with to short, scrubby grass. Soon we would see the peaks of the Camber Mountains showing above the horizon. In the distance for now was some scrub trees next to a thin watercourse.

"We will stop and eat at the next stream," I announced loudly to my party and then I turned to Helena and said, "We will formalize your apprenticeship when we stop."

Amenaruu gave me a beaming smile as well as Helena as I moved my horse away from the wagon and came up besides Chai and Dimitri who were speaking about some misadventures we had had in the past, misadventures that were only funny now that time had passed and had not been funny at all at the time. I joined in the conversation and laughed alongside of them until we reached the trees and Dimitri and I led the horses to the water to drink and Godfrey made a small fire to cook our midday meal.

"Are you sure about making her your apprentice?" Dimitri asked softly so only I could here.

"Yes," I replied.

"What changed your mind?"

I pointed to the medallion I had been given by Argenta and said, "With this I can read people's emotions, if they are strong enough and even their thoughts if they are unguarded. Of course, Chai's mind is so disciplined, that I cannot read his mind, and your own strong will keeps me out of your head, not that I want to be in a place like that, and I only try to perceive thoughts if I detect that someone is alarmed, like when that fox scared you the other night when you went to relieve yourself."

Dimitri ignored my grin and asked, "What does that have to do with the girl?"

"When Gerrex, you, and the girl came to my aid after the manticore attacked me, I detected the girl was genuinely concerned about me. That goes a long way in me trusting her."

"It still seems strange that you would take on an apprentice, especially a young maid," Dimitri pointed out. "Since Leeana's death, I would bet my life that you had not spoken for more than a few moments with a woman unless it involved some business transaction."

I looked at my friend and I did not deny what he had said, but I answered him this way, "I am not marrying the girl, I am only going to teach her magic. Things have changed, what once was, is no longer, and we must adapt to our reality or we will perish. I believe will have need of new allies and it is best if we make them as formidable as possible."

Dimitri looked at me askance and said, "It is not like you to speak in riddles."

"Am I doing, so?" I asked. "I do not mean to be cryptic, but things will be made clear soon enough, I think."

We returned to our compatriots and all of the men who were not on guard duty were sitting near the fire waiting to fill their bowls with whatever Godfrey was making, except for Amenaruu who was making his midday prayers. Helena was standing there with him, her arms raised up in supplication, mimicking the priest's movements. It seems our Stygian priest had made a convert.

I watched Helena silently. Her faded blue dress was stained with sweat under the arms and down the back. Her brown hair was pulled back in its normal ponytail leaving her face free to face the sun, her soft brown eyes closed against the brightness of the midday sun that illuminated her face with a peaceful glow, or maybe it was simply the glow of newly made believer. A smile was upon her pale, somewhat thin lips.

Amenaruu finished his prayers and asked Helena quietly if she understood what he had done and why he had done it. She nodded her head eagerly and the priest smiled. Then they saw me and Helena began to bounce up and down with anticipation.

The taking on of an apprentice is not a complicated process. I had written a contract that outlined her duties and then we both signed it and the priest also witnessed the signing to make it official. I then, using a variation of the Wizard Mark spell, wrote my personal rune on her forehead. The rune would stay until one of us died or until she earned her staff.

"You are now my apprentice," I said to her formally and she smiled at me, and I could not help but smile back. "From now on, pitch your tent next to mine. I may have need of your assistance at any time. I applaud you learning how to drive the wagon, now tonight I want you to question Chai about his homeland and his Chan Temple. Learn as much as you can about that part of the world, since a mage never knows when they will need that knowledge. Practice you meditations daily."

"As you say…Master," Helena added the honorific clumsily on the end.

"I think am too young to be a 'Master'", I said.

"You are not that young," Helena replied cheekily.

"It has been but a handful of minutes since you became my apprentice and already you are wanting to try my patience."

"I only promised I would do what you tell me to do," she replied, "I did not say I would make this easy for you."

"Hellfire!" I said as I shook my head and walked away.

The night brought little relief from the heat. The rest of the party was outside catching whatever breeze there might be as I sweltered in my tent. I could hear my people talking, especially Helena whose feminine voice was distinct among the men's voices as she talked to Chai. I wished I could join them, but I had things to do. I sat on the ground, the small magic mirror in front of me and began to calm my mind.

Some hours later, feeling like I had been baked in a wet oven, I emerged from my tent very satisfied at my progress. I went over to the water barrel on the side of the big wagon and drank deeply of the tepid water. I wiped my mouth with my sleeve, knowing it would dry quickly, and I searched outward with my mind trying to detect anyone, or anything, will ill intent toward us. Only I had been attacked since we lost Karl and the mercenary. It felt as if we were overdue for such a strike. Perhaps the precautions we now took were making them balk at coming at us. Every night, I used my Move Earth spell to create ramparts to protect us. I had not taken the form of a hawk since my injury, but I thought I needed to scout around, it would help me sleep. I found Dimitri and whispered in his ear and then moved toward the holes we had dug to relieve ourselves but before I reached them, I changed my form into a great horned owl and took off into the night sky. This time, I paid attention to what was above me as well as to what was below me. I returned almost an hour later. My compatriots kidded me about taking so long to relieve myself and I just said it was Godfrey's cooking, which got them to laugh. I then went to bed under the small wagon and slept soundly.

Two days later we saw the tallest of the snow-capped peaks of the Camber Mountains in the distance. For the next two weeks, they continuing revelation would mark our progress. The sighting of the mountains lifted our spirits since it was the first real sign of progress since we ventured onto these plains.

Gerrex returned to the camp about mid-morning to tell us of a tribe of Orcs who were camping where the old road forded the Scallic River, a narrow but deep waterway that had cut its way into the plains. We would have to cross there or divert for many, many miles to the south.

"Gerrex," I said in his language after I called him a short distance away from the others, "I have not questioned thee about thy people, it is thine own concern, but I must know if these Orcs are thine enemy."

Gerrex only grunted and said, "These Orcs are not known to me or my former clan. I have heard of them, but have never encountered them before."

I chose my next words very, very carefully. "My friend, it is known to me that an Orc's loyalty to his clan is the most important of all things and that without a clan, an Orc is considered to be disadvantaged."

Gerrex snorted with cold mirth and replied, "Thou mean that an Orc without a clan is considered to be nothing more than what horse dung lying upon the ground does to man."

"Is this going to be a problem for thee?" I asked.

"I will bear their insults for the sake of the party," Gerrex replied with a shrug. "But I do not know why you call me _nallcha_, friend."

"I called thou my friend for that is how I consider thee," I replied. "Thou are someone of honor. As a human, I judge the honor of Gerrex only, and I care nothing about your clan. Thou are someone I can trust. I have few enough friends and people that I can trust these days. I think I will need all the allies I can find before long."

Gerrex looked at me, his small pig-like eyes trying to read my face. I looked him in the eye and met his gaze. After some time, he nodded his head in what I assumed was agreement since he did not try to strike me down for speaking about what must be very personal to him. Orcs are slow to give loyalty, but once they do, it is absolute. It is the basis of their society. For Gerrex to have broken his loyalty to his clan must have been something extraordinary must have happened for an Orc would rather cut off his own legs than break with his clan.

We went back to our friends to prepare for our meeting with the Orcs.


	30. Chapter 30

One thing you need to know about Orcs is that they do not like surprises. Dimitri and I rode ahead since we both knew the Orc language and customs. We stopped on top of small rise and looked down at the river below and the loaf-like tents made of animal hide that made a temporary camp village near the ford of the river and at least that many smaller tents arranged in a haphazard manner on our side of the river with tendrils of smoke rising up from a camp fires spread through the village. One of the things that we knew to look for was a horse's head on a pole, which would have meant these Orcs were on a war footing, but all we could see a dozen of the larger tents so these Orcs were not at war with anyone at this moment. On the south, or downstream side of the village, were the horses tended to by the younger Orcs. They spotted us first and we could see two of them run to the main tent in the center of the village. Obviously, they were telling someone important about us watching them from above. We could see by the disruption of their daily routines and the furtive movements of the Orc clan as news spread through the camp. Dimitri and I just sat and watched until we could see a party of warriors gathering at the village edge and then we moved slowly down toward the Orcs.

Orcs have a very formalized society, which is necessary since they are a complete warrior culture. Besides hunting, which provides meat and skins for trade, Orcs are only interested in warfare. Since any sign of weakness would result in immediate loss of face and status, duels are common, but even those have strict rules of etiquette because without those rules, their tribes would implode from incessant violence. If you knew the rules of Orc etiquette, and Dimitri and I did, and the Orcs were not on a war footing, then they could be interesting and even enjoyable companions.

Dimitri and I rode slowly down the slope and stopped some thirty yards (meters) away from the group of warriors now arranged in a semi-circle at the edge of the village. Behind them, the Orc females and children looked at us with wary animosity. The females wore tanned hide dresses with looping curls of beads sewn on the front while the children, both girls and boys were only a leather kilt. The men wore trousers and some of them had plain vests on and an even fewer amount had helmets. Everyone, was armed, even the children with axes mostly or long dirks, but plenty of them had swords as well. We got off our horses to show some humility since to sit higher than an Orc meant that you felt yourself superior to them and we raised our hands, palms outward, to show we were not hostile and waited. The chief of the tribe, a large scarred orc with heavy gold bracelets and rings with the skin of a cougar draped over his head and bare shoulders and carrying a large battle axe, stepped forward about ten paces in front of his warriors. He placed the head of axe on the ground, meaning he was willing to speak to us. Had he raised the weapon up, our best hope would have been to get on our horses and ride as fast as we could. Dimitri and I strode forward confidently and showing no fear or anxiety at the odds stacked against us. To show fear now would get us killed.

Each of the hide covered shields the clans warriors carried had a crude image of a cougar painted in red upon it. This would be their tribal totem. In Orc custom, whoever the chief was, they were called by the clan's totem. The word for cougar in Orcish is _Kazzegh_.

Raising my hands once again I said, "Hail Chief Kazzegh of the Clan Kazzegh. My name is Barrim of Gensmot and this is Dimitri of Gensmot. We wish to parley with thee to gain access to ford to cross that river for ourselves and our companions."

"I see no companions," the chief responded suspiciously, "only the two of you."

"They are a small band coming with slow moving wagons. We have come forward to parley before they get here."

"There is nothing across the river that is good nor wholesome," Chief Kazzegh stated, still suspicious. I would have known he was suspicious even if I could not read him because of my medallion.

"Indeed, thou are correct," I replied, "but my chief has sent us on quest to retrieve a lost treasure in the _Azzghie _Valley," I replied using the Orcish name for the Ashie Valley. "Our way has brought us to the great Kazzegh Clan by good fortune. Thine wisdom as chief is as well known to us as thine battle prowess."

In truth, I had never heard of the Kazzegh Clan of Orcs before, but a little flattery, delicately placed, goes a long way with anyone. I saw the Chief scowl at the compliment, but since he was not charging us with his axe raised, I knew he enjoyed having his and his clan being praised. Just then, two Orc riders, scouts rode out of the village back the way Dimitri and I had come. They would be scouts checking to make sure that we were not lying about the size of our party, Dimitri and I deliberately ignored them. Trust was something earned in this world, it was never given away accept by the most foolish.

The Orc Chief motioned for us to follow him and we did so until we arrived at the largest of the skin-covered tents. A small cooking fire, mostly gray ashes now, burning sending up a the thinnest tendril of white smoke, was just outside the door of the tent. Crude benches encircled the fire, and we were invited to sit with a curt gesture. The chief took up a perch on a chair that must have come from some wealthy human house for it was too fine a construction for Orcs who eschewed almost all crafts except for the tanning of hides, the working of metal, and the production of crude clay pots which they used as cooking vessels.

"You come because of your Chief," the Orc leaders said as statement and not a question when he was seated. "What is he called?"

"He is called Lord Valker of Gensmot," I replied, "and he has my loyalty and I have his trust. That is why I lead this party to the Azzghie Valley to retrieve something of value for him."

"Gensmot," the chief asked, "is this not the city that lives in the waters of two rivers?"

I noticed the strange expression that the city "lives in the waters", and I thought it oddly fitting. I answered him, "Indeed, it does."

The Chief called to one of his wives for some of the harsh beer the Orcs made and soon drinking horns were passed around, although I detected a trace of resentment from the females at being ordered to the task, but the chief ignored it, which was strange. I could tell this Orc was stalling for time, probably until his scouts reported back. I noticed several of the female orcs were nursing war wounds and that there were more females than males in the village. Either they were away, or the Kazzegh Clan has suffered in battle. The female Orcs always formed a secondary line of defense behind the male Orcs and if they had wounds, it meant someone had broken through the front ranks, which would account for the lack of males that would have fallen to their enemy's blades rather than break. If they had such ill luck in battle, the chief would be sitting precariously on his throne, which would explain why the females were showing resentment at him not leading the clan to victory. Now that I thought about it, it was a bit strange to see Orcs this far south of the Camber Mountains and I am guessing that they were driven south.

"What is it your chief has asked thee to seek in the Cursed Valley?

"My chief is wise in the lore of stars," I replied carefully, as I rapidly thought through this question, "and he seeks a crown that once belonged to an ancient king. That crown is said to possess strange powers that can help him. Have you not noticed that an ill-wind is upon us and our enemies grow stronger because of it?"

The chief gave a suspicious nod of acknowledgement, his pig-eyes staring hard at me.

"My chief feels the dishonorable peoples will grow stronger and the honorable peoples will suffer, and he hopes to prevent that from happening, although I do not understand how this crown we seek will help as he did not tell me." I gave him this explanation and he seemed satisfied. I had to use the terms honorable and dishonorable because Orcs did not have words for good or evil. An act was either honorable or it was not, they did not have a lot gray areas in their thinking.

The two scouts came back just then, and they jumped nimbly from their crude saddles. One of them moved his fingers and hands in a pattern, some sort of sign language I guessed, and thanks to my medallion, I felt the chief relax, although he showed nothing on his exterior. I surmised that the scouts had seen our wagons and had relayed the message that I had not been lying. I realized, thanks again to my medallion, that the chief had been worried about an attack.

"My people should be here shortly," I said to the chief, "and I would be happy to give thee an honorable payment for crossing your river. I can give you two shirt of mail and if you require assistance in healing your warriors so they fight better, we can do that as well for we have a priest with us that is in favor with his god who knows the prayers to heal wounds."

I made no mention of my own abilities as Orcs were suspicious of magic from wizards. I felt the interest of the chief spike at my words. The mail shirts were a princely sum already, but it was the mention of a healer that got his full attention. In fact, his mood seemed to have brightened noticeably, but we only spoke about inconsequential things until our wagons arrived.

The wagons halted just outside the camp and we went out to meet them. I ordered everyone off their horses and wagons so as to not offend the Orcs. I heard muttering among the Orcs at the sight of Gerrex. He displayed no clan sign. Finally, one of the chief's bodyguards demanded to know what clan Gerrex was from.

"No clan," was all Gerrex said in reply and then he went back to standing quietly by his horse.

This admission shocked the Orcs around us and they muttered to themselves even more as the bodyguard deepened his scowl and then spit on the ground in front of Gerrex who ignored the insult.

"I have what I promised back here," I said to divert the Orc's attention back on me and away from my friend before one of them did something Gerrex would not overlook.

I went to the end of the small wagon and opened trunk and removed the Bag of Holding that I kept our extra supplies in. The Orcs registered genuine amazement when I started pulling the items out of the bag. Over the years I went adventuring, I had collected lots of items that an adventuring party might need, including the better made of the weapon we had come across. Understanding Orcs as I did, I pulled out several well-made weapons before I pulled out two mail shirts that were not enchanted, but were too expensive for a rather poor clan of Orcs to afford, and handed them over to chief. As I planned, the gathered Orcs were more interested in the weapons than in badgering Gerrex.

"Thou spoke of a healer," the orc chief said to me.

"Yes, it is that human there," I replied.

I walked over to Amenaruu and told him that Orcs needed his healing services and the priest readily agreed to help.

"Does thou have someone who could take the priest to injured people?" I asked the Orc chieftain, "If so, then I will have my people cross the river and set up camp. We have some items we will trade for meat and horses, if any of your people desire.

The chief called to one of the females and Amenaruu left with her and I ordered my people to cross the ford and to make camp on the other side of the river. Using my medallion, I warned Helena using mind-speech not to demonstrate any magic in front of the Orcs. She nodded silently. The chief, his bodyguards, and Dimitri and I returned to the smoldering campfire to converse and my people crossed the river and set up camp there.

We talked some more with the Orcs, and not just with the chieftain. We had established ourselves with this Clan as honorable friends. That relationship was deepened further when Amenaruu joined us in the company of two scarred Orcs that Amenaruu, I later learned, had brought back from the edge of death. I sensed the chief was relieved to have them both back in the land of the living. Amenaruu did not stay with us long as others asked for his aid and the Priest of the Aten left to help. There was a thawing of heart from the Orcs as they saw their people returning to health. Once Amenaruu returned, Dimitri and I rose and gave our farewells to the Orcs and I again reiterated that we would have some goods for trade and that the members of the Kazzegh clan were welcome at our campfire.

"That was a princely price you paid just to cross a river," Dimitri said as Amenaruu, looking tired, raised an eyebrow.

"I was trying to buy more than a river crossing," I replied. "I was trying to buy some good will and maybe win some allies. This clan has been beaten in battle, in case you have not noticed."

"I noticed," Dimitri replied. "They are short on warriors and their females are bearing wounds. They are not here by chance or by choice, I think.

"They were probably pushed here by the other Orc clans who were stronger than they wre.

"One of the females spoke a little of the Common tongue," Amenaruu said, "and I asked her what had happened to her son, he was the short one who came to the fire, and she said '_Gnarr'._

"Gnolls," Dimitri explained, "Gnarr is the orcish name for Gnolls."

"We call them the Hyena People in my land," Amenaruu replied. "I had to use my Cure Posion spell to heal the lad."

"Gnolls poison their weapons," Dimitri explained, "and the Orcs think that is dishonorable."

"I would agree with them," Amenaruu replied.

I waited until dark to cast my Move Dirt spell and to make our bulwarks so as not to be seen by the Orcs, although the ones who came to trade were amazed we could dig ditches so fast. By the time we laid down for the night, we had six new horses and plenty of dried meat for the rest of our journey.


	31. Chapter 31

_(Author's note. I inaccurately described Helena as getting a medallion with a permanent Shield Spell, it should have been a Medallion of Protection from Normal Missile. Also, I am uploading this chapter early because I will be on vacation next week and won't have a chance to do so.)_

I used my Medallion of Thought Projection to mentally tell Dimitri of what I was planning to do and then I lifted up back wall of my tent and crawled out without anyone seeing me. I changed my form once again into a great horned owl, which I had long ago discovered flew faster than any other, and as quietly as I could I rose into the air. I saw the guards look toward the slight noise I had made and I hooted softly, reassuring them that there was not threat present. Once I had reached the height which gave me an excellent view but still allowed me to dive to the ground if necessary I began my aerial patrol, still being careful not to be surprised from above again.

Even without the excellent night vision of an owl, I could have seen our camp well enough because of the magical lights we surrounded it with. In the light of the waning moon I could see the orc camp the fires were burning low and except for some young orcs watching their horses and a few guards there was no movement at all in their camp. I widened my circle searching the ground for my enemies.

It was perhaps only a half of an hour later when I was at the farthest point north of our camps when I spotted strange lights in the distance, curious, I winged over toward them and the marrow froze in my bones. The lights were torches, at least a hundred of them, and I as I swooped down I could see they were being carried by Gnolls! Not every Gnoll carried a torch, so there must have been more than two hundred of them riding their big hyenas and moving fast southward along the river. I could see they were using the river like a rail, following it so they would not get lost. They were on the eastern side of the river, the same side as the orcs and they rode with purpose. It was too much to think that this was a coincidence that this was happenstance. These Gnolls knew where they were going and who they were after.

I turned on my wing tip and flew as fast as I could back to our camp. I dropped down out of the sky at a shallow angle, flaring my wings to break, when I broke the spell in front of a startled Orc guard. With his excellent night vision, he recognized me, but was still startled.

In Orcish I commanded him, "There is a large war party of Gnolls coming from the North along the river! Sound a warning!"

The Orc, still suspicious pulled his sword, one that we had traded him earlier and I said, more angrily this time.

"Do not be stupid! If I was thine enemy, I would be trying to kill thee, not get thee to sound the alarm and raise the camp!"

That simple logic worked and the Orc sheathed his sword and raised his black ram's horn and blew a long guttural blast out into the night. Within moments, the sound was taken up as the other guards joined in with their horns. The Orcs, long accustomed to the danger of night raids, responded admirably. They rushed from their tents with weapons in hand. I ran toward the chief's tent and arrived just as he was shrugging on one of the chain hauberks I had given him.

"I was scouting," I told him without preamble, "and saw a force of Gnarr coming south on their mounts and moving quickly, following the river. They are three times the number of thine warriors, including thine females. They are on this side of the river and will be here before the moon touches the treetops. I will rouse my people and join you."

"How did thou see this Gnarr warband and yet be here to warn us of it?" The chief demanded, his pig like eyes narrow with suspicion.

I raised my hand and cast the dancing light cantrip, extinguishing it a moment later. The Orcs shifted nervously at my display of magic. I then said, "I am a worker of magic and I changed my form to that owl to search from the skies. I flew back here to give thee warning. Thine night guard can vouch that I changed from a great bird to a man in front of him. Now, I must rouse my people and we must prepare for battle!"

I ran to my own camp to find my people already up and ready, having been alerted by the alarm given by the orcs. I called out to them to let them know it was me that was approaching the camp. They were surprised to see me come in since no one, but Dimitri knew I had left.

"We are in the thick of it," I said as I came up to them. "I was scouting as an owl and spotted a Gnoll warband moving toward us as fast as their mounts can run. They will be here in less than half an hour."

"How many?" Brey asked me.

"I estimate over two hundred of them and probably closer to two hundred and fifty."

I could see the shock and fear in the faces of my people, in truth, speaking it out loud in my native tongue sent a wave a panic through me, and my heart started beating faster, but these people depended on me to lead them, and I did not have the luxury of succumbing to my metal weakness, so with one deep breath I dismissed the feeling and began speaking to bolster my comrades.

"Listen," I began, "all is not lost. We have just enough time to prepare for them to come, and we are not weaklings. We are also fortunate that we will have some very strong and very brave allies in our new Orc friends. If we had been caught alone, we would never have survived, but thanks to fortune, or maybe our good priest here, we are fortunate to meet them on a more equal footing. We will triumph over these filth, so go and get your weapons and carry an extra waterskin with you, you will be grateful that you did. When you are ready, we will go and meet with the Kessegh."

"It looks like they are coming to meet us," Dimitri said as he pointed to the Orcs that were splashing across the river."

The chief was in the rear of the group crossing the river while the horses were in front being driven by the youth, who were followed by the females. The sight confused me for a second, and then I realized what the chief was doing. He was going to use the river to limit the movement of his enemies, forcing them to cross the river at the ford. Our makeshift fort was just across the river and would be the focal point for the defense. Already I could hear axes hacking into the trees that grew along the edges of the river.

I turned to Godfrey and gave the following order, "Godfrey, have your crossbowmen set up the pavise shields on top of our ramparts, that will allow them fire over our heads. You will be in charge of taking care of the wounded. Use the healing potions if you have to, but be judgmental about them since we don't have as much as we should. We will keep the young orcs inside our perimeter, as well."

"Good Priest," I said to Amenaruu, "how many healing spells do you have left?"

Amenaruu smiled his benevolent smile and said, "All of them. The Aten, through his servant the Wise Lowen, has given me the ability to recover my spells after only a short time of prayer and reflection. With our good friend's magic hammer, I am ready for whatever may come. Once our enemy appears I will offer you all Aten's blessing to aid you in this fight."

The hammer Amenaruu was speaking of was Karl's Dwarven Hammer of Throwing, which the priest had inherited after Karl's death.

I handed Helena my Wand of Fireballs and said, "Helena, stay up behind the rampart, you do not have any armor, so that will be the safest place for you. When the Gnolls try to force their way across the ford, give them a fireball. Save the spells in your ring for last, they will be more powerful."

"Perhaps we should flee and allow the Orcs to delay the Gnolls," Chai suggested calmly. "Our quest is of the utmost importance, as the Wise Lowen told us, reality itself is at risk."

I looked at Chai, with a knot of forlornness in my chest, but before I could say anything Brey spoke up.

"The fact that there Gnolls this far south of the Camber Mountains is too much of a coincidence. This was arranged by the hidden enemy that has been attacking us. On that fact, I would bet my weight in gold, and that is why we have not been attacked since our companions died. It would be wrong of us to abandon the orcs, now."

"Brey is right," I replied. "Besides, if the Orcs cannot stop them with our help, then they will fall and we will have to stand against the Gnolls by ourselves. Our best chances are to ally with the Kazzegh and win here at the ford."

Speaking of the Kazzegh, the horses being driven by the younger orcs of the clan reached us and kept going. They would take the horses far out onto the plains to protect them. No orc, even the youngsters would admit to being afraid or be denied battle, but by giving them a task of protecting the clan's most valuable possessions, their parents could send honorably send them away to the safety of the open plains and the night, for whatever that was worth. The other young orcs, who I would guess, if they were human, to be in their young teens came next carrying rough hide bags filled with something heavy and then came the women and then the clan's warriors.

"Dimitri," I said to my closest friend, "open my Bag of Holding and distribute out any gear that might be useful to our friends."

Dimitri nodded and ran to do as I had ordered. The crossbowmen were already at work putting up their pavise shields. I heard a tree fall and then another as the orcs worked furiously. The rest of the tribe came upon us just then I went to speak with the chief.

"I am going to create a stone wall between that outcropping of rock and the one to the south," I said to him pointing the geographical features of which I was speaking. His looked at me as if I was crazy but I just said, "Magic".

I stepped forward and I glanced to the North and I thought I could just see a faint glow of firelight in that direction, but perhaps it was just my imagination. I had never successfully formed a wall of stone by magic before, but I was hoping my new found understanding of magic would serve me to do so know. I called out the Arcane Words and with a rumbling, grating sound a wall of limestone came forth from the earth just over waist high and sixty feet (18.3 meters) long and one foot (.3 m) thick in a semi-circle with the apex of the arc nearest our ramparts and the ends nearest the water. This would allow our missile weapons to fire from almost three sides and, hopefully, funnel the Gnolls together and inhibit their actions. I then cast my Stone Shape spell to create dagger-like spikes along the top of the wall.

"Have Thine warriors place the fallen trees at the ends of the wall," I said to the Chief. "As thou can see, it does not block the entire ford. If thine people will cut branches and cover the wall, we may be able to surprise our foes by hiding its presence."

The rest of the orcs were looking at my handiwork, suspicious, as they always were, of magic. The chief barked out some orders and they ran to fulfil his orders and sooner than I thought possible the wall was covered. The trees that were cut down were dragged over to block the ends of the wall where there were gaps. Each tree had its branches were cut down and then the stubs sharpened to form a crude, but effective, abbatis. This had barely been done when the yowling of the great hyena dogs the Gnolls rode began to break through the night. I asked one more thing from the chief, I had his strongest warriors carry a large rock from the river bank and set it in front of the wall. I arranged the white stones I had been carrying in a circle just behind this rock.

The Chief organized his warriors into two ranks behind the wall with the first rank laying their shields on top of the wall between the spikes to form battlements. Females with long spears and short bows were behind the warriors. The small bows were made of horn bound with sinew around the yellow wood of a hedge apple tree. They were powerful enough to punch through mail at close range, which is why Orcs put them just behind the front ranks. Many an orcish foe has engaged with some frontline warrior only to find an arrow sticking out of his throat from a female orc a moment later. Dimitri had given out our Javelins of Lightning to the female orcs, as well. The younger orcs who were armed with slings, the heavy bags they had carried were full of smooth river stones, were placed on the ramparts of our camp with our crossbowmen and there was perhaps twenty of them, all told. Gnolls are not master strategists, they would use their weight in numbers and their momentum to try and carry the day. That is why I had created the wall, if we could stop their charges, we had a chance. As for my party, they stood in the center of the line and close together so the spells that would enhance our fighting capability. I was in front of the wall, next to the circle of white stones, but next to wall, which was loosely covered in cottonwood branches.

The leading element of the Gnolls broke into sight to the north, their vanguard giving a great shout when they saw the camp. They rode through the orc village, throwing their torches into and onto the tents to set them ablaze. Soon, the area was lit with fires of the burning orc village, and the Gnolls spotted us, but did not attack, as they waited for their main force to arrive.

The main force was not long in coming, and we could see Gnoll riders heading back to their leaders to inform them that their quarry had not been taken by surprise as they had thought they would be. The main body turned west and went up the slight rise behind the now burning village. I could hear the yipping barks that passed for their language as they argued about what to do next.

"Barrim," Dimitri said to me in a worried tone, "I think I see a spellcaster next to the biggest Gnoll in the middle.

I looked and I too saw a person dressed in a dark cloak with the hood pulled up around their heads so that I could not see their features, but they were obviously not a gnoll and they wore no arms or armor that I could see.

In a low voice so that it would not carry, I told all of my people the spellcaster was the highest priority. I repeated this to the chief and he nodded and passed the word to his people as well.

"Unclean spawns of Set," the priest spat out.

Beastmen, of which Gnolls are but one species, are hybrids created by dark powers for the purpose of causing pain and suffering in the world. A natural species have control over their actions by reason, but beastmen, while still having at least some of the intelligence of a man, are mostly governed by instincts and hate.  
"It looks like they have made up their minds," Brey said as he nodded toward our foes. They were organizing themselves into a line with much yelling and the snapping of hyena jaws that brought snarls of anger and pain from whatever animal found itself bitten.

"Now, priest," I said to Amenaruu.

The priest began to chant his blessing as I cast my Haste spell that I immediately followed with my Extension spell, giving us the benefit of faster movement for a longer time than the base spell commanded. I felt the both spells take effect, and the Bless spell of the priest calmed my frazzled nerves, which so far, I had kept hidden. I turned from my companions and cast my Levitate spell on the large rock the orcs had placed there on my suggestion. I then stepped back and started chanting a summoning spell.

If the Illios star was weakening the barrier between the planes allowing our enemies to summon elementals more powerful than usual, I figured I would take advantage of that and I cast my Conjure Earth Elemental spell. Inside the circle of white stones a crude, rocky head and shoulder's appeared, appearing to me like a swimmer in a pool of water.

"When those Gnolls cross the river," I ordered the elemental, "I want you to push that floating stone into them as hard and as fast as you can, and then I want you to kill as many of them and their mounts as possible. Is this understood?"

The crude head nodded and in a rough grating voice like two millstones being ground against each other said, "Yes".

Most elementals were too stupid to talk, so this must be one of the more powerful ones to have the capacity for speech. The barriers between planes must be weak, indeed. With my orders given to the elemental, I hopped over the wall to the other side to join my companions as the Gnolls sounded their charge.


	32. Chapter 32

One of the secrets to winning a battle is knowing your opponent so well, you can predict their movements and their moods. Gnolls are essentially bullies, which means they are cowards driven by hate and urged forward by superior numbers. A single Orc will stand against an entire army if his honor requires that he do so, but Gnolls only attack when they think they are the stronger. Another secret to winning a battle is to know how to interrupt an opponent's battle plans.

With Gnolls, who are not very smart, their plan is always the same. Charge in quickly with overwhelming numbers and cause such confusion and shock that your opponent cannot recover. That is why I created the wall. It was not mean to defeat the Gnolls directly, it was meant to defeat their tactics. The Orc Chief was an experienced Gnoll fighter as well, and he knew what the wall was for and he arranged his people to their best advantage. My people were in the middle of the curved line.

The first line of charging Gnolls came down the light slope on the opposite side of the river, yipping in short staccato bursts of noise that was their war-cry. When the paws of their giant hyena-like mounts touched the dirt on this side of the river, the elemental surged forward like wave made of dirt and rock pushing the boulder I had levitated fast and hard into the onslaught of Gnolls coming at us. The charge crumpled in the middle when the boulder hit with bone grinding force. The flanks, however, continued to surge forward.

"_Fireball into the middle of the right side," _I ordered Helena using mind-talk.

Two small flaming spheres flew out, one from the wand Helena was wielding and the other one was mine. They exploded with fury when they hit the Gnolls and they hit with a solid, "Wompf"!

The charge faltered, but it had too much mass to be thwarted so easily. The Gnolls were hacking at the elemental, and I knew it would not stay manifested for long.

"_Again," _I said to Helena via the medallion I work.

Two more fireballs flashed outward and smashed into the Gnolls, their line falling only be either jumped over by the Gnolls behind them, or tangling them up and tripping them, only t be ground into the dirt by those who did not stumble. The wave came on, but its momentum was blunted. Black streaks from the cursed crossbow bolts sliced through the night hitting, the great canines the Gnolls were riding, causing them to fall, and allowing their comrades to finish them by crushing them. The Haste Spell I had cast effectively doubled the volume of fire from the Venetti. The arrows and stones from the Orcs, which were arranged in a crescent shape had no trouble landing, even if the archer missed their intended targets, the sheer number of targets in such a small place guaranteed a hit.

When the Gnolls made it to the brush stacked in front of the hidden wall, their mounts leapt forward, and onto the upraised spear points of the Orcs. Once again, the charge was stalled. I send a mental message to Amenaruu and we stepped back to cast our Protection from Evil Spells on our archers to protect them from direct attacks from the Gnolls. Helena continued to use the Wand of Fireballs to good effect as I stepped back up to the wall. I took a moment to notice the enemy spellcaster sitting on his nervous horse with the Gnoll chieftains on the other side of the river. Unlike Orcs, Gnoll chieftains did not lead from the front. With them was the main chieftain's personal retinue, made up of a dozen of the biggest and most fierce fighters the Gnolls had to offer. With their initial assault blunted, the main chief tried to regain the momentum (he knew how Gnolls fought, as well), and ordered his chosen body guards to flank the wall to our left, where we were the weakest. A gap between the river and the wall was allowing a current of Gnolls to bypass the morass in the middle of the field and to regain some of their speed. The bodyguards were but a stone's toss away from the orcs who were being driven back one reluctant step at a time. The charging Gnolls came forward with great bounding leaps and it was only the extra speed allotted to me by my haste spell that got me to our left flank in time.

I cast my Ice Wall spell just in time. I created a wall that was just above my head and just in front of the charging Gnolls. Their beasts crashed headfirst into the wall, shattering it a wild spray of flickering ice as the wall gave way beneath the impact. Most of the Gnolls riding those beats where thrown forward a dozen feet (4m) onto the ground, dazed and stunned. The Orcs dealt with them efficiently. The rest of the charge was thrown into confusion, but a roaring came from the piles of Gnolls and their mounts that had been tripped up by the lead element and a Gnoll, so impossibly large that I suspected magic, rose up from, mess and roared out his challenge. I gave him a lightning bolt to face in answer and he staggered back a step, but he did not go down.

Barking harshly in Orcish, I led a countercharge of Orcs against the Gnolls pressing our left flank. At least I was hoping I was leading a charge, I was moving unnaturally fast and I did not look back to see if I was being followed. I drew my enchanted cutlass and something came over me and I yelled out the battle-cry of "Aten"!

The giant Gnoll shook his head to clear it and then saw me charging at him. He pulled the lips on his muzzle back in a snarl and stalked forward to meet my charge. A flail with three spiked balls whorled over his head and he brought it down in a great slanting arc, but I managed to leap aside, thanks to magic belt that gave me the strength of a hill giant, and the flail smashed harmlessly (to me) into the back of one the hyena creatures' head, smashing into it so hard the head basically exploded into a cloud of brains and blood. I reached out and grabbed ahold of his extended arm and I fired off my Bigby's Shocking Grasp Spell, making the mottled fur stand on end as the magically summoned energy flashed through him. He let out a screaming yell that rose in pitch as I, with a rising back-handed blow of my cutlass, powered by my magical strength opened his guts from groin to sternum.

Knowing that he would not recover I turned to meet the next Gnoll, who was growing in size right before my eyes, and empty potion bottle was carelessly tossed. It was then I was hit with a "mind-blow".

My body froze in place, and I was unable to move as the Gnoll grew in size to that of an ogre and the great two-handed sword he wielded was looking more alike a short sword in his hand. He fixed his two black beady eyes on me as stalked forward with a hateful snarl as my vision went black.

The attack I was being struck with was Psionic, a type of magic (although mages still debate whether it is or not), that is cast solely by the mind. I had neither the training, nor the ability to do mind-work, other than what my medallion could do. It was as if I was engulfed in an infinite sea of darkness and all I could feel hatred, hatred directed at me and all life itself clawing at my mind like a ravaging animal. It was the hatred of the anti-Word I has experienced during the vision Lowen had shown me and I was helpless before this onslaught, and I panicked. Either the psionic blow would kill me, or the giant Gnoll would split my skull.

"Peace," I heard a quiet voice say to me through the hatred, and somehow I knew it was Amenaruu speaking to me. "I will help you."

"_Priest_?" I asked and a tiny light appeared in the darkness, which was no longer infinite for light drives back darkness, and now there edges to the darkness, a place it could not be.

I leapt toward that light.

By leaping, I mean I accepted the reality of the light, which I know makes little sense. I will have to talk in terms of the physical because I have no words to describe the world of the purely mental which exists in no space and happens in such an accelerated time it might as well be instantaneous, at least compared to the world of the physical. In the mental world, time flows at different rate, but the mind interprets it as flowing in its normal course. I did not know how I knew that, I assumed Amenaruu knew it and had given me that information.

"_Create a wall like the one you made of stone around the light_," came the order from Amenaruu. Amenaruu was light, only he was not really the light, but he was. I am sorry, but there is no other way for me to describe this phenomenon.

"_I have already cast that spell tonight_!" I gasped as another clawing attack was made on my mind."

"_That means nothing, just do as I say_!"

Despite the mental anguish I was undergoing from the attacks, I brought forth the Mandala for the spell the priest had told me to cast. It was an act of creation. I created the wall around my mind, using no magic, other than summoning the images of the Arcane Language, although I knew it would have worked had my mind not been supported by Amenaruu. The clawing attacks on my mind stopped, but I could feel them tearing at the wall.

I had seen sharks in water during battles at see that were driven mad with hunger in water tinted with the blood of the fallen. The attacks on my wall felt the same, just blind hate directed with a cold will against my defense.

"_Your wall will fall, when it does, follow the will behind the attacks to their source and when you do strike_!" Came the mental order from the priest.

There was no more time for my wall shattered and the claws were instantly back attacking me. I blocked out the mental pain and reached out and to my surprise found the source of attack. If Amenaruu was a small beacon of light, the source of the darkness attacking was like wound in reality bleeding out black hatred instead of honest blood. I was set to summon the mandala of a lightning bolt, but then, using nothing but gut instinct, I instead cast (projected/summoned?) the Continual Light Spell on the wound. The light from this mental spell was not the blue-white light I normally brought forth, but it was white light of such purity it almost hurt to be aware of it. The attack on my mind instantly stopped and the mental world faded before me as my vision returned, but before it faded completely, I had an impression of tentacles of darkness tearing frenetically at the white light, trying to tear it away from itself.

The giant Gnoll had managed to take a full step toward me as I had been dealing with the psionic attack. I knew then that the attack had been quite a sever one if he had had that much time to move. Despite the Haste spell, my bodily reacted sluggishly, my mind being wounded from the psionic attack. I raised up my sword, knowing I would not to block the blow in time.

As the gnoll's blow fell it was turned aside by Brey's longsword. The gnoll snarled out hate and anger, but Brey, who had apparently followed me, moved with quick, graceful precision, that countered every powerful blow and thrust, while using the energy from the attack to whip his sword around in a riposte that cut the gnoll to the bone in three places, effectively filleting his left thigh to the bone. Two more of the Gnolls enlarged themselves with potions. One of the Javelins of Lightning we had given to the Orcs struck one of them in chest as two arrows embedded themselves in his chest. He fell over, burnt and punctured, onto the ground and into death. I glanced behind me and saw the Orcs had joined me and Brey in the fight at last. My head was splitting with pain from the psionic attack, but my mind was functioning normally again, and I was just angry, so angry at all that was happening, all that had happened, that the world just turned red and screaming my new found war-cry I pressed into battle, using my enhanced strength to break the neck of the next hyena I came to while putting my sword into the left side of an gnoll riding it. I stepped forward and swept my cutlass in a looping blow that took a normal-sized gnoll's head off. I was on to the next opponent before he hit the ground. Brey dropped his large gnoll and took the head off another that was in the middle of bashing my head in with a mace, saving my life yet once again. I nodded a quick thanks to Brey as I found another Gnoll standing over wounded orc and raising his battle axe to finish him off. I thrust so hard into the exposed ribs of the Gnoll that the point of my sword came out the ribs on the opposite side. An arrow from one the Orcs whistled a finger's breadth from my ear as some overeager Orc fired their bow. The arrow bounced off the helmet of a Gnoll just to my right, doing no damage, but giving me a chance to punch him in the face with the knuckle bow of my sword, smashing his face in with a grinding crunch of bone as blood spurted out of his ears and mouth.

I could feel the battle turning. Unless you have experienced battle, you will not understand, but somehow you can feel when an enemy is losing. Maybe it is just a collection of clues your mind gathers without you realizing it, small hesitations or maybe the smell of fear, but you can tell when it is happening. Disciplined warriors control their fear, and can fight on, at least making an attempt to retreat in an orderly manner, but Gnolls are not disciplined and the failure of their charge and the deaths of their greatest champions had startled them. Fear was beginning to take hold, but we still had to press the attack to keep them from being rallied.

There was a flash of lighting on the other side of the battle, and I knew Helena had unleashed the Lightning Bolt spell from her Ring of Spell Storing. Another Gnoll began to grow, and I was in a small pocket of relative calm in the maelstrom of the battle, I had time to cast my last Lightning Bolt, which struck just as three arrows embedded themselves in the gnoll's chest and he stopped growing as he too fell over burnt and perforated.

The Argenta's medallion warned me of an attack by the intense hatred coming from my would-be attackers. I turned quickly to face the threat and saw three Gnolls bearing down on me a dozen paces away and coming fast. Out of nowhere, and I mean that literally, Chai appeared. He leapt into the air with a flying side kick that unhorsed (un-hyenaed?) a gnoll and breaking its neck in the process. Somehow he landed on the back of the running beast and flipped around striking the gnoll to his now right and knocking him out. He then, in the same motion, turned his animal into the one on his left, veering the attack away from me before dealing with its rider.

I had no time to thank him as I shouted encouragement to press the attack, and reality became flashes of snarling Gnolls and hyenas and blood arcing up into the moonlight. Another fireball, probably also from Helena's Ring, detonated in the mass of Gnolls that were still inside the arc of the wall. That was the breaking point.

It started out as a tremor of hesitation, but it spread quickly, and hesitation became fear and fear became panic. The Gnolls were now thinking, which they are not very good at, and they were seeing the bodies of their comrades lying dead and were deciding that victory could be had at a better time and place than now. They began to leave the battle, first one, then another, then a dozen and then there was a route of the entire company. The victory cry of the Orcs was like Volatile Oil being poured on open fire and the Gnolls raced over their own comrades as they fled.

Suddenly, I had no more enemies to fight. I looked over and up at the Gnoll chieftains. They were puzzled by the spellcaster who now shakily rising up from the ground supported by them from where he, or she, had fallen from their horse. I could see them turn to their own and they all became aware of the rout happening and with their spellcaster apparently down, they had no interest in trying to stop the rout. As per their nature, they dropped the spellcaster and ran to their mounts to lead the charge away from us. The spellcaster shook their fist at the Gnolls, but they ignored him. The spellcaster was on all fours but came to their knees to cast a teleport spell. With the blinking of an eye they disappeared.

The Orcs leapt over the wall and followed the Gnolls as far as the river's edge. They then turned their attention to their fallen enemies and dispatched any that were still alive. I hopped on the wall to see if we had lost anyone, but after an anxious minute, I got a head count of my people. They were alive. Brey wiped his sword blade on a patch of grass and then came over to me and I saw Amenaruu came running up to us, blood pouring down his neck, but looking fit enough and I hopped off the wall to greet him and to thank him for his help.

"Give me your Rings of Regeneration!" He demanded without preamble. Such was our trust in the priest that both Brey and I did so without hesitation. It was not hard to surmise that both his spells and our healing potions were gone and that he needed the rings to save some lives.

Suddenly, I was exhausted to the bone and my headache came to the forefront of my existence and I sat down on the ground with my back to the stone wall I had created. I held my head in my hands, only opening my eyes to glance to my right when Brey sat down next to me.

Neither of us spoke for long minutes, but then he said, "I came back, you know."

"What?" I asked confused.

"When you went into the swamp, when Leeanna was killed," he explained. "I left, but I came back but you had already entered the swamp. I followed you in, hoping to catch up to you, but I lost your trail and then I got lost. I made it out of the swamp and back to town just before you, Chai, and Dimitri brought the bodies of our friends back. I am so sorry, I am ashamed I left, but I came back to stand beside you."

I knew he was telling the truth. Do not ask me how, I just did. I looked out at the bodies of our enemies as my exhausted mind swirled around with raw emotions, pain, and exhaustion. I found that I did not want to carry my anger and my hatred for Brey any longer. Maybe what he tried to do did not make up for what he did, but it was enough for me to let the knot of hatred and resentment in my gut untie itself. I slapped my hand down on his left forearm with my bloodstained right hand, and I squeezed his arm as I had no words then to speak to him, but he understood that I had forgiven him his transgression.

After a few minutes, we crawled back to our feet, still not talking, but no longer enemies. We helped with the wounded as best we could and we waited for daybreak.


	33. Chapter 33

My reasoning had been correct about Amenaruu's need for our magic rings, but I wished that I still had mine for now the excitement of battle was fading and the numerous small wounds I had not even noticed before were making themselves felt. My head was throbbing with pain from the psychic attack. Brey was limping badly and blood began to soak through the leg of his pants before we had gone a dozen steps and I remembered the healing potion I still had under my shirt and I have it to him and he drank it with a grimace and a shudder of pain as his wounds healed and we made our way back to our people.

"Thank you," he said as he flexed his leg to make sure it was working.

"You are welcome," I replied.

Except for Amenaruu, Gerrex, and Godfrey who were attending to wounded orcs, my people were all gathered at the wagons. Helena was binding wounds on the Venetti when we approached. All of them were bloodied, except for Helena who had used the Levitate Spell I had put into her ring to raise herself up and into the darkness when a group of gnolls broke through the orcs line and attacked our Venetti crossbowmen, who showed their mettle by dispatching them quickly and returning to their main weapons quickly. It was to our great fortune the malformed hands of a Gnoll is not conducive to the use of the bow and the few slingers they possessed had been ineffectual. This imbalance in missile weapons had been greatly to our favor.

Dimitri and Helena smiled at me as Brey and I approached. Helena led me to a seat on the back of the small wagon and began bandaging my wounds covering them a poultice of the yarrow plant to stop any infections before wrapping me up with bandages. Her fingers were gentle but firm as she treated my wounds, which looked worse than they were, but they were still irritatingly painful. Her face held an odd expression that I, in my tiredness did not at first understand until curiosity made me reach out with my medallion to touch her emotions. First, I felt her concern for my wellbeing, but there was more than just concern, so I broadened my effort with the medallion and felt love beneath the concern. By all that is holy, my apprentice was in love with me! I involuntarily jerked at that revelation which startled Helena, who thought she had hurt me.

"I am sorry," she said in a distressed voice.

"It is nothing," I replied not wanting to tell her the real reason I flinched as I did.

As Helena tended my wounds, each of group described what they did and what they saw during the battle. Helena had been the main focus of the attacks by Gnoll slingers, but her medallion protected her well. Whenever a group of Gnolls that had been disorganized by the failure of their initial assault began to get organized, she would send a fireball into their midst and kept them from organizing.

"You did well during the fight," I said to her, "you used your head and your resources to their best advantage. Well done, Apprentice."

She smiled warmly at me as said, "Thank you".

Helena's brother Charles sat on stool opposite to me, cradling his black sword in his arm like a child. He did not speak much, only to answer a direct question. During the fight, he had stayed in the center protecting his sister and the Venetti crossbowmen. He would not look at me at all, but by all accounts he acquitted himself well and received several pats on his back that brought quick fleeting smiles to his face before he turned once again to stare at the ground.

Dimitri had directed the fire from our Venetti, concentrating on their mounts to force them to fight on foot and thus taking away their mobility, all the while Godfrey took healing potions to fallen Orcs and revived them when he could, and then when the potions ran out, he dragged them back for Amenaruu to heal. When Amenaruu was not so engaged, he sent his magical hammer flying into the fray at targets that seemed to be getting an upper hand over one of us or our orc allies. He did the same with his Spiritual Hammer Spells. Brey, Chai, and I had, of course, fought on the left flank. While the chief of the orcs had rallied on the right flanks, and except for the few that got through to attack our crossbowmen, we held them at the wall or on the flanks.

"We did well," I said to them. "We all did very, very well."

"Hopefully," Dimitri said, "the Gnolls will not be back."

"It is not in their nature," I replied with a sigh as I stretched to test the extent my wounds were inhibiting me, "and I managed to take out their spellcaster."

"How?" Chai asked me sharply. I looked at him quizzically and he quickly said, "I mean I did not see you cast a spell in his direction."

I nodded my head and said, "I used another type of attack, a mental one."

"Ah, I was not aware you possessed such powers!" Chai said as he smiled his small smile. He folded his legs into his meditation position and he closed his eyes letting his smile stay on his face.

"One learns new things," is all I said in reply. I was tired and my head was still throbbing and did not want to try and explain to them the subtleties of a psychic battle, especially since I did not understand them myself. Amenaruu, Gerrex, and Godfrey arrived as Helena was bandaging my wounds. The Orc chieftain was with them. He bared his fangs at me in a fierce smile I did my best to return.

"Thou are a worker of magic," he said to me without preamble in his language, "but thou hast the heart of a warrior. The Kazzegh will always stand beside thee in battle."

That was high praise from an Orc and it was generous for all of the Kazzegh would now be honor bound to fight alongside me, no matter what. I nodded in return and said, "Thou giveth me a great honor, and whether by spell or sword, I will stand with the Kazzegh."

The Chief slapped me on the shoulder with comradery affection. One of his lieutenants came up and spoke softly, giving him the names of those who had fallen, which, thankfully, were not as many as I had feared. Amenaruu and Godfrey had done their work well.

"Where are our healing rings, Amenaruu?" I asked the priest.

"Still on some of the most grievously wounded Orcs," he replied. "I think with the magic in the rings, we will not lose any more tonight. They lost a dozen, and more wait for their turn with the rings. When I have restored my spells, I will do more work among them, but I have done all that I can for the moment. Speaking of regaining spells, if you will excuse me, the sun disk is now fully up over the horizon and I wish to offer up my prayers."

Amenaruu moved slowly, almost painfully, for he was not a young man to endure an all-night battle without feeling it in his bones. Helena, who had now finished bandaging me, rose and went with him. Dimitri, with his left arm in a sling, through some small branches on the smoldering coals of our fire and Godfrey, tired as well, poured some oats in to his hanging pot and added water and salt. This was to be our breakfast. Normally, I would only eat such fare when I had to, but my stomached rumbled at the thought of even such bland food.

We continued to talk of the battle until our breakfast was ready and we ate greedily, even the Orc chief. As we were finishing, the younger orcs of the tribes brought the horses back in from where they had been hiding them. They may have lost their homes, but they still had most of their wealth since horse trading was their main source of income. The food restored us enough that we felt like we could be of use, and we spent the rest of the morning, looting the bodies and dragging the carcasses to a place further down the river where they were to be burnt in a great pyre and rebuilding our new allies' homes. We got two of the larger huts rebuilt and we thatched them with the reeds harvested by the youngsters. The reeds grew plentiful along the banks of river and strips of old sacks from my supplies were used to tie the bundles on to the roofs.

We had to endure our wounds until the evening was upon us and Amenaruu, his spells depleted once again on severely injured Orcs, brought our rings back. I slipped mine on gratefully. I laid down on my bedroll in my tent completely exhausted by a night of battle and a day of hard work, but I was only going to lay there for a moment because my spells were depleted from the battle, but just as I decided that I needed to meditate and get my spells back, even though my head still throbbed with pain, I fell asleep.

I awoke in the early morning hours feeling much better in my body than I had when I had gone to sleep, and even the pain in my head throbbed less. I used one of my enchanted lanterns to illuminate my tent so I could regain my spells using the mandalas in my spellbooks. Once that was done, I emerged into the cool of the morning air. One of the Venetti, as he stood guard, saluted me as I passed out of the camp to relieve myself. I stopped to whisper to him what I planned to do, or I hoped so, since my Venetti is not very good I am not sure how much he understood. Once I relieved myself, I once again took the form of a great horned owl and flew out into the night. I scouted for hours, but saw no danger. In the far distance to the north, I thought I could just detect the lights from a number of campfires. If it was, they were too far away to come quickly at us, so I reasoned they must be moving away from us to be that far away.

The camp was stirring to life, everyone hungry, healed, and in good spirits. A troop of six orcs with bows came to our camp to invite Gerrex on a hunt for the victory feast they planned on having that evening. Gerrex looked at me for permission and I nodded. He, of course, showed no emotion, but I could tell he was pleased to be accepted among his own kind once again.

Helena brought me my breakfast and I thanked her and then I reloaded her ring with spells as it cooled. She gave me my wand back, but it was completely empty of all its charges, but I thought they had been well spent and did not see a reason to complain. The battle with the Gnolls had used up a lot of our resources and we soon be entering the Ashie Valley, a thought that did not make me happy, but there was nothing that could be done about this, so I did not dwell upon it.

"I would like to ask you something," Helena said quietly.

"Yes?" I said as I ate.

"Do I have a choice as to what spell I may choose today?" She asked me. "I have been preparing my Magic Missile spell as you have commanded, but I would like to choose another that I found in your books."

"You have two of my Magic Missiles spells in your ring," I reasoned out loud as I chewed, "and your version is not so powerful that it would likely be missed. If you have another spell that you think would be useful you may choose that one, but I would always like to know what spell you have chosen now, and when you can do more in the future, I would like to know them as well so I can make plans for us, I mean our group, around them."

"Thank you." She replied, and then in a voice that was afraid I would refuse her request said, "I was going to cast the Find Familiar spell."

"I have never wanted to have a familiar," I said to her, a bit surprised by her choosing that spell. "If you cast that spell, you must be responsible for your familiar and you will have a connection to it that is much more than just an owner has for a beloved pet. I remember my master when his beloved owl familiar Oscar died, he was more than heartbroken."

"I am prepared for such responsibility."

"You know", I further explained as I scrunched up my face comically, "that you have no choice of what animal will come. You may get raven, or a full grown bison, or even an old warty toad. Croak! Croak! Croak!"

Helena laughed at the face I was making but said, "I will take my chances!"

"You may do as you please, then," I said to her and she smiled at me. I smiled back, but my insides were jumping as I felt her emotions through my medallion. "I am going to make myself useful while you do your spellwork. Remember, the animal will not just appear, it may take a day or two."

"I will remember," she replied.

I joined with the rest of my party, except for Dimitri and one of the Venetti crossbowmen went hunting on their own, and we spent the day making lean-tos with Orcs for their families' shelters and gathering wood for the great pyre. The corpses of the gnolls were stinking awfully and their bloated bodies made strange sounds as the weight of the wood we piled on them drove the decay gasses from their bodies.

Children, armed with their slings, hunted small game, boasting to the younger ones that had taken the horses away, about their prowess in the battle. They only had to exaggerate a small bit to tell of their exploits, but of course they exaggerated their stores quite a lot, as is the way of youth everywhere. By time we were done stacking the wood, the sun was in the west, but still several hours from setting, and dozens of cook pots filled with a myriad of small animals bubbled merrily in the village. Soups were served in bowls made from hard-crusted bread baked in their clay ovens, which had survived the attacks. The hunting parties returned with larger game and the smallest children picked whatever edible plants and berries they could find.

The feast started at dusk when I launched my remaining Fireball Spell (the other having been placed in Helena's ring) and set the pyre alight. The Orcs had buried their own dead and Amenaruu had presided over their funerals and Dimitri and I attended them as representatives of our group. Chai, who stated that he wanted peace and quiet to meditate walked upriver to find a quiet place on its banks. The dry wood caught instantly and soon a great column of gray smoke was rising into the air as the raging fire consumed both wood and flesh. The feast turned out better than I had hoped. Orcs would rather eat than talk, so after the exchange of friendship I just gave a short toast that was well received. The Kassegh's chieftain announced that Gerrex had been adopted by the tribe, which surprised me, but brought cheers from his clan. Then the chief gave a small, crudely made clay pendant with a cougar picture on it and painted with red ochre paint. It was poor in material, but it carried the honor of the entire Kazzegh Clan, and that was valuable indeed. Once that was over we began to feast on the grilled meats and thick stews that made up the feasting board. The Orc's Skalds, an older and grayer orc with a younger apprentice, beat on small drums of rawhide and chanted out their clan songs, starting with a new song about their victory over the Gnolls. It may be a surprise, but Orcs also committed their defeats and hardships into their songs because they did not want to forget those that had fallen or the things that they had overcome in their trials. The skalds preserved the identity of the clan and their stories and songs preserved their history.

As a favor to Amenaruu, I used my scrolls of Comprehend Languages and Tongues so that he could evangelize to the Orcs about his god. Their own priest had died the previous summer and their traditional gods, the Orcs felt, had abandoned them, but Amenaruu's god brought them a great victory and had healed them, so they were definitely interested.

After that we and the orcs mingled freely and I managed to get Gerrex to the side for a quick moment. That was not easy because now that he was a member of the Clan, many of the widowed female Orcs had made marriage proposals to him. Orcs were not sentimental and viewed marriage as transaction rather than a romantic adventure and apparently Gerrex was quite the catch. He was a bit drunk on the fermented mare's milk the Orcs like to drink and I asked him if he was going to stay with the party or his new clan. He smiled a mischievous Orcish grin, which was disconcerting, and told me not to worry and that he would be with the party until it returned to Gensmot. I got the distinct impression something was up, but he did not say anymore and was soon pulled away by a female admirer who wanted to teach him one of the clan's dances.

In fact I did not find out the reason for his grin until the next morning when I found out the Orcs were going with us. The entire tribe was going, and not only that, they were going with us when we returned to Gensmot.

Gerrex explained that the clan had been suffering misfortunes for quite some time, being the weakest of the Nine Orcish Clans, and the old chieftain, being savvy about keeping his position had made the case for the seventy or so of his people that were left, to make their way to Gensmot, following their new priest and their trusted ally, me. There was nothing I could do about it because I was sworn, by my acceptance of their honor, to help them. I cursed for a full minute, which did nothing but make Gerrex bare his fangs in an amused smile.

So, before dawn the next day, we broke camp as did the Kazzegh, and we made our way north and east. When we broke for midday meal, I finally got Amenaruu aside to speak to him. We sat on a projection of rock exposed by the wind and rain not far from our camp.

"Priest," I said softly so my voice would not carry to our camp, "you did not tell me you had the mind-powers."

"Oh," he replied almost dismissively with a nod, "they are not such a great thing, really. Or at least I am a poor practitioner, many of my brethren are much stronger in them than I. Indeed, but for that medallion you wear and your calling upon the Aten, I probably would not have been able to help you and it was you who struck the blow that felled your opponent"

"I did not call upon the Aten," I said puzzled.

"Did you not cry out to the Aten when you attacked those Gnolls threatening our flank?"

I had forgotten I had done that, thinking that it was just an expression I happened to think of in the heat of battle and I said as much to Amenaruu.

"You just happened to call upon the Aten by complete chance after you have been shown the very act of how the Aten creates the universe moment by moment by the speaking of a divine word?" Amenaruu asked me with a much too innocent look on his face. "And I would ask you how you, with no training in the mind gifts, were able to strike down a much more experienced, and probably a more powerful opponent?"

"Well…hell," I said as I could not answer that question without sounding like a fool.

"How is the pain in your head?" Amenaruu asked me.

"How did you know I my head was hurting?" I asked him in return.

"Because you were attacked by a very powerful mind-worker, and their attack would have left psychic wounds. I cannot heal them, my magic is for the physical only, but the pain will subside in time."

"I do not know if I can defeat them a second time," I replied as I let my breath out quickly with my confession. "I was fortunate in that first mind-battle."

"You have been chosen by the Aten, my friend," Amenaruu said, slapping me on the knee, "as I was when I first heard about him. You were shown his Perfect Word, and you know this Word, or pieces of it, you use them in your spells. Meditate on The Aten, I mean as a believer, and you will be strong enough. You will struggle with this, of course. We all do, you see, but you will find that your spirit will not rest easy until it accepts the will of the Aten."

"We will see," I replied not knowing how to answer him and I went back to wagons. When I got there, everyone was gathered around Helena who was holding something in her arms. When I came close she held up what she had in both hands. It was a stoat, brown on the top and face and white on its underbelly.

"He just came up to me and his name is Winston," she said with a smile. The animal looked up with me with darkly intelligent eyes, it seem to be quite satisfied at being chosen as a familiar. I scratched Winston under the chin and he seemed even more pleased than before. With our new addition we went forward to the ever rising mountains.

The grass turned fully from the long grass we had been used to, to shorter grass of the higher elevations and our ears popped with the rising of the land. The peaks of the Camber and Skarr mountains rose hazily over the horizon. Five days later, we stood at the entrance to the Ashie Valley. It was dark, perhaps dank would be more accurate, in appearance and I did not like it at all, no one did. The Orcs, for whom the valley was taboo, would not enter it, but would wait for our return, except for Gerrex who would accompany us.


	34. Chapter 34

I used my Varanian survey gear to make a map of the entrance to the valley. There were two hills, the northern most one being the taller and each had a square tower, almost a keep sitting on its crest. Those towers were crumbling and dark and it seemed as if they had crumbled from rot more than simple disrepair and neglect and they stood like old tombstones against a sky that was gray and overcast. The great snowcapped mountains of the Camber and Skarr ranges met at the far end of the valley and their branches went west and south with the Ashie Valley nuzzled between them. The sun was up now, but it was hidden behind the clouds, an inauspicious omen.

"This land has been cursed," Amenaruu said frowning. His normally jovial face pinched in displeasure at the evil lands before us. Amenaruu and I stood alone, he to my right as I made my drawings.

"Yes," I replied, "and it has been for eight hundred years, ever since King Ivanisla was killed by King Crecie and this land was dedicated to the Kur the Malignant, or something like that. I believe that cult is extinct."

"Evil is a reality of the negative," the priest said. "As night is but the absence of the sun, so evil is absence of good or the perversion of something good. Evil is a mold and rot that grows unseen and twists our world into suffering. It has many faces, many names, but it is always there."

"Why does evil exist if the world is made by the Aten's perfect word?"

"Because there must always be a choice, for without it we would be only slaves. The Aten does not need or want slaves, he wants us to accept his light on our own free will."

"Well," I said, "somebody chose to curse this valley. We are searching for Ivanisla's tomb and it will be toward the back of the valley on the slopes of that mountain to our left, the smaller one. In that tomb will be a crown and that is our prize."

"My people do not like robbing the dead," Amenaruu said with a voice full of the displeasure that showed plainly on his face.

"I would rather leave it and turn around and go home," I replied with a sigh, "but that is not an option available to me. Even if I must go alone, I will do so."

"I would not abandon you," Amenaruu said quickly, "but I do not like this business."

"I concur with you on that sentiment," I said as I put my things away into my back of holding. "But it cannot be put off any longer, we must descend into that dark place before us, and may your god watch over us."

"You should ask him to do that yourself," Amenaruu said, a small smile at the corners of his mouth.

"The Aten may not want me," I replied ironically, "and it would not be the first time I have been thrown out of a temple."

"You have come closer to meeting him than all the priests of my temple, and yet stubbornly hold on to your reluctance to accept him."

"Perhaps I have a thick skull?" I replied to priest.

"No," he said, "that is not it. You have a quick and agile mind that sees into the heart of things very readily. What you fear is giving up your identity. You think that by accepting the reality of The Aten he will become larger and you will become smaller. You view him like you view those mountains, as a majestic, impersonal thing meant to be admired, feared, and even placated from afar. That is a common enough view people hold of their gods. The Aten does not wish to destroy who you are, nor does he wish for worshippers merely to worship him for he has no need of that. The Aten exists in perfection and perfection cannot be lacking in anything, or it would not be perfection. The Aten seeks to bring his followers in harmony with him, to fill them with his light out of his benevolence."

"You are trying very hard to make a convert out of me," I replied.

"That is my occupation," Amenaruu smiled gracefully at me.

We made our way to the camp we shared with the orcs that had followed us here. Dimitri was talking to their chief and nodded to me as we came near. In both common and Orcish, I told them we would begin our descent in half an hour. My tent was the only one still up and I entered it and went to my mirror and gazed into its depths. A few minutes later, and I was done with what I needed to do and I packed it carefully away. I carried my things, already bundled out to the wagon and with the help of Godfrey and a Venetti guard, quickly broke down my tent and we stored it on the big wagon.

The road that descending into the valley was obliterated and all that were left were ruts carved by the rains that had swept this land for the last eight centuries. We went down slowly, trying not to break the axels of our wagons. Gerrex and Dimitri rode ahead to scout for us, I had sent both for I did not want anyone to be alone in this place. The air was itself seemed oily and bitter to the tongue and nostrils and only the most noxious of weeds bristling with thorns grew there except for the ancient trees that carried a russet rot on their leaves. You could not help but throw glances left and right as shadows seem to move just at the edge of your vision, but when you looked, all was still.

We reached the bottom of the valley and saw the ruins of ancient stone homes, long given to vine and thistle. They were roofless with sagging window frames that looked like dead, mournful eyes. Cobbled streets were broken up by the roots of trees and thin spikey grass grew between the cobbles. The valley was long and we would not reach the foot of the mountain that held the tomb we were seeking until late on the second day, or even the third morning. By silent agreement, we did not stop for a midday meal, as we wanted to be out of this place as soon as possible.

We stopped for the night next to a dry streambed and we set our defenses. Godfrey gathered up numerous dead and dry pieces of wood for our evening meal, but starting the fire took longer than usual because Godfrey, who was a master at fire building, found it difficult for the wood we collected to catch alight. When it did catch, it was a greasy, smoking fire with little light and heat.

As we ate in the deepening gloom of the valley, I reached out with my medallion to feel for any overt emotions near us, but the only thing I could sense was our own unease and a sort of background noise of malignancy. There lay a shroud of silence over the valley that made every incidental noise we made seem like an intruding clarion. Even Amenaruu spoke softly as he offered up his midday prayers.

Gerrex and Dimitri came into camp just as my concern for them was about to become a serious worry since they had been gone most of the day without contacting us, only leaving small stone piles to mark that they had been there and for us to proceed.

"This damndable place is hard to move through," Dimitri complained as he took a bowl of stew from Godfrey and sat down on a camp stool. His face and arms were covered in scratches that were quickly fading thanks to his magic ring. "The main road is clear enough, I guess, but to each side there is nothing but brambles with thorns that want to peel the skin off of you. There are houses still standing as if someone had been living in them until yesterday, but most have fallen into disrepair. That dry streambed over there is dry because something has blocked the stream and flooded the low parts of the valley. We saw no living thing, other than clouds of mosquitos over the swampy bits, but we could hear something moving, now and then, in the brambles, but we could never see it. We heard a large splash in one of the bogs, but we saw nothing but ripples on the water."

"But the way is passable?" I asked my friend.

Dimitri nodded several times as he looked at the ground and then he turned his head and looked at me and said, "I believe it to be. The road is raised so it continued dry as far as we can see as it makes its way through the pools of water. We could see the valley floor rising further into the valley, at least for a while."

Charles, who was sitting next to his sister, who sat to my left on the back of the little wagon, had been more withdrawn than usual since we descended into the valley, suddenly stood up and drew his black sword from its scabbard.

"Something comes." He stated in a flat, but certain voice.


	35. Chapter 35

Suddenly upon us was a tension, like feeling hands around your throat, and then a mist began to rise from the ground in such a volume that I knew that had to have been an enchantment, although one I had never encountered before. Before the sky was completely obscured, I saw in the wan moonlight a hooded-figure riding upon a flying carpet. It was the same figure, I somehow knew, of the wizard I had bested at the fight by the ford. Before I could raise an alarm, he threw several objects at us, the size of small stones, as he flew overhead. They fell from the sky, no real physical threat, but I felt a knot of dread in my gut. The objects fell, but with no immediate effect, I did not even hear them hit the earth. A few seconds later, it dawned on me that I could hear absolutely nothing. I knew exactly what had just happened because I had done something like this years ago on an adventure. The stones had an area of Silence spell upon them and now no sound could be heard at all, we blind and deaf in the fog!

Worse, none of us spellcasters could launch a spell upon our foes as we could not speak the Arcane words we used to bring about their fulfillment. We were in a carefully constructed ambuscade that had us trapped like a rabbit in the jaws of wolf. It was only a matter of a few heartbeats, I knew, before the main assault was launched. Time enough to think, time enough to warn everyone with my Medallion. The spell that deafened us did not affect the mind, and so I sent out my thoughts to me comrades.

"_Peace,_"I said in mind-talk, "this_ is Barrim_. _there is an enchantment that hides all sound from us, and we cannot use our spells. Stand shoulder to shoulder with your back to the fire and form a defensive circle and draw you hand weapons, we will be under assault momentarily._

In the gloom of the fog, the fire was only barely visible, but it _was _visible and better yet we were already near it and so I hoped my people could rally around it. I found myself between Gerrex and one of the crossbowmen both with drawn swords, but I could no farther than the length of my arm, and I knew not what the rest of my compatriots were doing and I had no time to check on them for the attack came. An arrow bounced off of Gerrex's helm and another took me in the side. I felt the burning pain flair in me and warm blood began to flow inside the heavy quilted gambeson I wore. I reached behind me and felt the bodkin point of the arrow sticking out of my back, I tore the arrow out, allowing myself to scream since no one could hear me anyway. With the arrow out, my ring could now begin to heal me.

Something big passed overhead in the fog as large lion-like paw struck Gerrex in the head, stunning him. If I had been able to hear, I was sure that I would have heard a roar of triumph from the manticore that was now attacking us.

I came to that realization just as another arrow made a minor slice on my neck, allowing more blood to flow. I saw Dimitri flinch and go down from an arrow to the gut. Somehow, our unseen enemies were not hampered by the fog, but that was impossible, or was it? My brain began to turn like a windmill in a hurricane. The fog was an illusion. The enemy spellcaster was a damned illusionist!

Another arrow took me in the leg and I went down to the ground, but I summoned my will and I closed my eyes and I willed my mind to cast aside the enchantment laid upon it, while simultaneously broadcasting my raw emotion and disbelief to my comrades. When I opened my eyes again, the fog was gone and the dim light of the failing moon and our own lights were once again visible. My people blinked in surprise and some tried to speak, but the silence was still upon us. I could then see the red beady eyes of our foes now, wererats. These evil lycanthropes were armed with short bows and they were taking aim at us, but with the illusion lifted, our Venetti crossbowmen once again took up their main weapons and the wererats were suddenly surprised we were returning fire. I looked up and saw the illusionist sitting above us, hovering on his carpet. Once again I pulled out the arrow from my flesh, and once again screaming silently. I gained my feet and I ran, with an awkward gait and great pain straight into a gap between the wererats, surprising them, and I ran until I could hear my own shouts of pain crying out into the night. The illusionist has just commanded his carpet to take him higher to escape and the manticore was silhouetted against the sky as it turned around to attack again when I chanted out my magic missile spell and six white bolts of energy hit the illusionist in his, or perhaps her, back. The illusionist faltered, and I blocked and riposted a dagger thrust from a wererat, splitting the skull the of wererat who attacked me with my enchanted cutlass. I looked up once again and saw the illusionist had created a blazing red summoning circle, the runes were for denizens of the Plain of Air, in the sky and was playing a tune on an high-pitched ocarina, which I figured to be some sort of magical artifact for summoning Air Elementals, based on our history with this summoner. I knew he could not be allowed to finish that spell and summon an Air Elemental. I shouted out my Arcane words and once again, my Magic Missile spell slammed into illusionist with unerring accuracy. The illusionist screamed, it was a man's scream, and the red circle died in the sky. He fell down on his carpet in agony, but then struggled to rise. The third Magic Missile Spell came from the spell stored in Helena's Ring of Spell Storing and once again the illusionist was hit, this time he fell from the carpet and struck the ground like a dead weight as the carpet, now bereft of a master, flopped down to the ground by itself. My Gambeson stopped a blow aimed at my back from one of the wererats, at least it turned most of it as the last inch of the point pierced my flesh. I took a swipe at my foe but he danced back and I missed him.

Using my medallion to circumvent the artificial silence, I orchestrated our defense as best I could as ordered my comrades to fight their way toward me. Helena I ordered to use the second of the two Magic Missile spells stored in her ring of spell storing and target the manticore, however that attack did not come. I felt a cold knot of fear in my stomach at her failure to heed my command, but I had to turn back two of the wererats who sought to catch me unawares. Brey was down, but getting to his feet with the help of Charles, as Brey shook off the blow the manticore had given him to the head. Dimitri and Gerrex were lying still upon the earth and two of our Venetti were down, and I could see Godfrey lying on the ground next to his big wagon, in pain from a pair of arrows lodged in his midsection. I ordered the last two Venetti to fire at the Manticore, and soon black bolts of negative energy hit him and he roared in anger and pain. Amenaruu grabbed the supine Dimitri and Gerrex and dragged them by the collars of their armor. Brey, seeing what the priest was doing, charged the wererats closest to me as Charles ran to face the once approaching from the other side. The two cowardly wererats that had attacked me made the mistake of giving me too much room, and I had just enough time to send a lightning bolt flashing into the chest of the nearest one as he charged. The second one, seeing his companion lying on the ground smoldering, opted to turn and run into the underbrush.

The sound of war cries and the ringing of steel and the skittering, squealing of the wererats sounded loud in the night now. As soon as he could hear, Amenaruu dropped both of his burdens and ripped out the arrows that were still in them without ceremony, but unlike myself, my friends had the benefit of being unconscious. With the offending shafts removed, he knelt and to use his divine magic to heal my friends. Gerrex was off the ground like he had been shot from a catapult, but Dimitri needed Amenaruu's help to gain his feet. Gerrex snarled when he saw his sword was no longer in his hands and I whistled and threw him my cutlass, which he caught deftly by the hilt.

"Help Charles!" I shouted to him and he turned without saying anything and charged the wererats Charles was fighting, with less success than the more experienced Brey, whose magical longsword bit often into fury flesh. On wererat jumped on Brey's exposed back, knocking him forward a couple of steps as his sharp incisor teeth bit deep into Brey's shoulder. Brey let out a gasp of pain, but keeping his senses reached up over his right shoulder with his left hand and grabbing the wererat by the scruff flipped him over his shoulder and onto the ground. Once again the cowardly wererats made the tactical mistake of backing up, and I launched a Fireball Spell behind them, allowing only the edge of the area of effect to overlap onto them. Two of six went down dead, and the others were singed. Brey smiled and threw me a salute before he threw himself forward like a dancer, his magical longsword flashing as he spun and twirled around, cleaving through flesh and bone with ease.

I thought that the tide of battle was turning to our favor when I was slammed forward by the weight of the manticore as it glided in to attack me. The breath was not out of me and I felt several ribs break, but I still rolled over onto my back to see the creature leaping toward me to finish me off. Its dark, evil face was full of hate and fury and pain as came toward me. The look on its face turned to surprise when I kicked it hard in the chest with my good leg. The Girdle of Hill Giant Strength lending the blow greater force than it had expected. I felt a few its ribs crack and I grinned at it. This was the point in which I was to leap to me feet, but I found myself floundering instead. The blow the manticore had struck had done more damage than I originally thought and I coughed up a mouthful of blood. The manticore's face turned triumphant a second before the magical hammer of our priest slammed into it. It hurt to breath but I managed to call out the Arcane words and send the last of my prepared Lightning Bolt spells arcing out to incinerate that evil face.

Those wererats that were attacking died in the next few moments and the rest, maybe a dozen, were now fleeing through the underbrush in all different directions after seeing their champion go down.

Amenaruu turned to me, but I waved him off and pointed to our other fallen comrades and he quickly moved to help them. I lay on the ground as helpless as a kitten. I could do nothing but let my magic ring heal me. Amenaruu, rescued the others and dressed their wounds and used what healing spells he had to bring them back from the edge of death, but unfortunately not enough to heal them completely.

The pain inside me subsided enough for my mind to start working again and I suddenly remembered Helena had not answered my mental call to use her magical ring. I foolishly tried to sit up, which made me cry out and I almost fainted.

"Where is Helena!" I managed to gasp out finally.

Everyone, turned and looked around puzzled.

"She and Chai are missing," Dimitri declared.


	36. Chapter 36

Gerrex found the bronze Aten medallion Helena had worn lying on the ground, but there was no other sign of our missing people. Amenaruu did what he could with his spells to heal us, but none of us were unmarked by our last battle and our wounds were extensive. Charles was demanding that we search immediately, even as he fell to his knees, lightheaded from blood loss. We had no choice but to take the time to let our magic rings heal us.

"Dimitri," I asked urgently of my friend, "would you bring me my Bag of Holding?"

My friend did so, and I pulled out the magic mirror Argenta had given me. I extended my thoughts into the mirror, searching for either Chai or Helena, but finding neither. I cursed under my breath and felt panic rising up in me as my breathing got shallow and fast. I knew I could not succumb to the panic, but I felt powerless to stop it. There was a soft clinking sound as Helena's holy symbol, which I had forgotten that I was still holding, tapped against the mirror. I quickly focused on that, letting the golden sheen of the bronze become my focal point and I found myself praying to this strange god from another land.

"_You certainly took your time in reaching out to the Aten,_" a voice said inside my head.

"_Lowen? You are the Aten?_" I asked in mind-talk quite surprised to hear an answer back.

There was a flood of humor at the question before Lowen answered, "_No, I am but a servant. However, I have been waiting for you, as it is my duty. Your lady is missing, and you need help, this I know. Help is at hand, your plans are near to bearing fruit, just look for the answers you seek in the humblest of places._"

The contact was broken then, and I found myself wondering at the riddle I was given until a small warm head thrust itself gently into my left to get my attention. I looked down and saw Helena's familiar standing beside me, raised upon his back paws with his intelligent eyes looking up at me.

"You know where your mistress is," I said softly. I reached out with my medallion and gained enough information, as fragmentary as it was, from the little stoat that I was able to use the mirror to scry where Helena and Chai were at the moment. Once I had their location firmly in my mind, I used the mirror to send a message to an ally I had been cultivating for some time.

"Dimitri," I said as I gained my feet unsteadily, "you are in charge. I will be back shortly with Helena, keep everyone, especially Charles here in camp. Likely there will be another attack, and no one can come with me or Helena will certainly be killed, so stay here and heal."

With my Dig Spell, I created a crude set of earthworks to help us defend the camp that I had not been able to do before, to aid my companions as much as I was able. I grabbed a spear dropped by a wererat and I used it as a walking staff as I followed the brown and white stoat as he led me through the thorny, twisted undergrowth and the ruins of the town that once was here. The stoat moved in quick furtive bursts, running quickly forward and then waiting for some unseen, by me, danger to pass. I had to trust his more developed instincts as the exertion had me panting like a dog as we went along, with me leaning heavily on the spear to stay upright. One half of an hour later, the little creature was bounding up some stairs, not many but enough to hurt me as I followed. When I reached the tops of those ragged, cracked stairs I found myself on plaza, one that reminded me of another dead city far away from here. There was a small fire burning on the cobbles and Helena, bound and gagged looked at me with wide frightened eyes, was just behind, kneeling at the foot of some more ancient steps that led to a cracked and broken memorial column and Chai stood behind her with a dagger pressed dangerously into the white skin of her neck. Forming a backdrop to the scene were the ruins of some large gray stone building sitting at the top of the stairs behind the stub of a column. It was so decrepit and rotten with time it was impossible to tell what it used to be.

"Tell me," I said so my voice carried to my erstwhile friend across the plaza that was maybe twenty yards (18.3m) to a side, "is that the same dagger you used to stab me in the back before you threw me into the sewers back in Gensmot?"

"So you finally figured that out," Chai said with an arrogant smile.

"Not finally," I said as I made my way painfully to a large moss covered stone so I could sit down. I walked slowly and did nothing to provoke Chai. I knew that he could cut Helena's throat quicker than I could launch a spell or physically attack him, even if I had been capable of doing that at the moment, which I was not. I sat down with a sigh.

Chai looked at me with hatred but with suspicion and curiosity in his eyes.

"You see," I said answering his unasked question, "I have been suspicious for some time. You have been making mistakes. Your first mistake was not making sure I was truly dead before you threw me in that sewer, but you know that. The second mistake was you whispered 'finally' just as you jammed that blade into my back, and that told me the attack was personal. That made me think, the only person who was still alive that I considered to be my enemy was Brey, but he had an alibi. So I had to accept the fact that the attack could have been done by a friend, and I only had two, you and Dimitri, and Dimitri has had hundreds of chances to kill me over the last ten years and did not do so, which led me to think of you, supposedly back in the East, but there you were at Sternberg. You claimed to have just come over the Eastern pass, but I spoke to the trader who broke the trail through the pass last spring, and he did not see you or the trail you would have had to leave behind you. Then there was the manticore attack. Dimitri, Helena, even Gerrex came to me as I lay wounded, but not my good friend…that is not right, you were more than a friend. I would say you are more of a brother to me, yes that is appropriate, and you my brother never bothered to come over to see if I was still alive. That's when I knew that you were my hidden enemy."

"You have always been a clever one," Chai said in his mocking tone, but my deductions had made him nervous.

I nodded and said, "I figured out the who, but not the why. Why does someone I considered to be my brother hate me enough to kill me?"

"Because of her!" Chai spit out at me.

I looked at the frightened Helena and my confusion must have been written on my face for he said, "Not this slattern, you fool, Leeanna!"

My mind reeled at that name and I thought back to that final fight in the swamp ten years ago. Somewhere in the back of my mind, the answer snapped into place.

"You loved her," I spoke softly, but loud enough to be heard.

"She was good and light and warmth and she died because of you!" Chai spit the accusation out at me like a cobra spitting venom.

"I did not kill her, Chai," I answered calmly. "She was killed by the Lizard folk under the control of that Drow."

"She died because she followed you! She should never have been in that stinking place."

"I did not know she had lost favor with her god, Chai. If I had known, I would not have taken her into the swamp, or maybe I would have, because I needed help to try and save those children, but if I had known that she was without her spells, I could have planned for that, but it was she who kept her fallen state from me."

"She could not tell you. You the one that was always going on about our brotherhood and how we bound by our honor to each other. She was ashamed to tell you, so afraid of your judgement that she kept her silence and followed you to her death."

I hung my head and stared at the ground, my mind turning in circles, but then I raised my head and in a loud firm voice I said, "No."

"You were the cause of her death, and I shall repay you now by cutting your wench's throat so you can feel the pain I felt."

Chai pressed the razor edge of the dagger even harder against Helena's throat and I heard her cry out, muffled because of the gag, but still audible.

"Chai," I said to him with great earnest, "I loved Leeanna, as well. I have already known the pain of her death deep inside me and that is not something you have to teach me. Let me tell you how it felt, it felt as if all the light had gone from the day and even the songs of the birds became flat and dead and it leaves a peculiar hollowness inside of you that you feel you can never fill. I know this because I have mourned for her loss many times, but I did not kill her and you know that. I think what you feel is shame, shame that you did not save her and you have made me the focus of that shame and put your self-hatred on me. I have made mistakes and I have seen people suffer for my mistakes, but I realized one day that we all choose our own way through this world and Leeanna chose hers, and I will not dishonor her memory by taking that sacrifice away from her with self-pity."

Winston was slinking toward Helena, running in his funny way from shadow to shadow, and trying to make his way to his mistress unseen. I did not know how much help he could give, but we needed every advantage we could find at this moment.

"You twist everything around," Chai accused me, "to make excuses for what you have done and to make yourself out to be a noble man. You are a blight and a pestilence on your friends and the people who follow you."

"Yet," I pointed out to Chai, "here we are with me trying to save an innocent girl from your dagger. What happened to you turn you from the Chan path to enlightenment and to make you an assassin?"

"I have been shown the real truth," Chai said to me with desperate sincerity, "this world is full of corruption and hate, and it deserves to be destroyed."

I thought furiously and then took a stab in the dark, "You were corrupted by the beings on the other side of the portal. Evil is the absence of Good, or the perversion of Good, or so I have been told. Your love for Leeanna has been perverted into hate. We left you there alone, and they called to you and twisted your grief into a weapon they could use."

"They enlightened me!" Chai shouted back at me. "I was shown the truth and I accepted it."

"Who are they, Chai?" I asked to buy some time and to solve a mystery that has haunted me for last ten years.

"The Illithids," he said with a wicked grin, once more feeling once more in control with his hidden knowledge that he could mock me with.

My guts ran cold at the ancient word for that corrupt race. Mind Flayers, the hidden ones, only half-remembered by sages for many thousands of years, but such was the fear the wrought in man no one said their proper name out loud.

"Those are foul and corrupt beings," I said emphatically to Chai. "You cannot serve them; they seek to destroy this reality."

"You are a fool," Chai responded, "they do not seek to destroy this world, but to remake it to perfection and now they have the power. They have spent many millennia traveling to far places in the darkest planes and in the coldest reaches of space to find the way to remake reality to their own vision and they have found it. They will soon be here and no one will stop them. But before they come, I will have my vengeance on you."

"How is it the Illithid are interested in a quest offered up from Old Valker that they should invest some much into stopping us? There is more than just your hatred of me in such an effort."

"They have their seers too," Chai explained, "and they saw there was a slight chance, a very slight chance, that your efforts on behalf of that doddering old fool, Valker, could thwart their plans. But they take no chances and so the decision was made to stop your quest and giving me the task of killing you was merely a gift they gave to me. But first, I am going to kill your whore so you can watch her die like I watched Leeanna die."

"You know nothing about Valker," I said quickly, desperately playing for time. "You must know that I run an alchemist's shop. I was wearing an Alchemist Ring, you know what that is, the night you attacked me. It protects us from our ingredients and even our own potions, so when you forced me to drink the Veritas Potion, I was able to shrug off the effects and lie to you. That was the third mistake you made. Would you like to know more about Valker? I was chosen to lead this quest because I know who he really is and he felt he could trust me because I have kept his secrets. You are interested in Valker, are you not?

"He is a dying old man," Chai stated, but there was some uncertainty in his answer, "and must be dead now for he took to his sick bed the night before we left Gensmot to follow you."

"No," I replied easily, "that is a ruse, and I will tell you why if you tell me what your interest in Valker is, and that is more than a fair trade, I promise you."

Chai looked uncertain but he knew me well enough to know that I was not lying to him.

"You have no hope of rescue," Chai replied with a mocking, spiteful certainty, "for even now my ally's forces are attacking your camp. Your party will not come here in time to save you. So I will speak to you just to prolong your misery. Valker has been working against The Following, trying to thwart our efforts," Chai replied albeit reluctantly, "and he has had some success, but remained ignorant of our true nature."

"'The Following'", I said. "That is what you call yourselves?"

"Aye," Chai agreed, "but keep your bargain or I cut her throat."

I held up my hand to stay his murder and said, "I will tell you what I know. Valker is not dying and the Bloodstone we seek has nothing to do with his health. Valker cannot die."

"Why can Valker not die?" Chai demanded of me, his face clouded with puzzlement.

"First," I said, "tell me who this ally of yours that is attacking my party."

Chai shrugged and said offhandedly, "The one who rules this valley. He is not of The Following, but he shares our vision for his own reasons. Now, speak of Valker or I kill her."

"Valker cannot die, because he is already dead and has been for many hundreds of years," I replied to him, dreading that I had to give out Valker's secrets, but I needed to so I could play for time for my allies to arrive. "Valker is a vampire. He wants the Bloodstone to remove from him the need to feed on human blood. I am guessing you have tried to eliminate him already, and failed. You failed because you did not understand his true nature, but you scared him, I will give you that. I think he wants the Bloodstone to be able to hide if things go bad, although he did not give me a reason, but I think my guess is accurate."

"Thank you, now that I have the information, I am sure our efforts to eliminate him will succeed," Chai smiled mercilessly.

"Tell me one more thing," I replied quickly. "Why did you kill Lord Bellock's man? He was one of your people. I found his signet ring in the sewers and the hidden rune of your cult within it."

"Sometimes the weak-minded cannot gaze upon the minds of our masters and behold the perfection that exists there without it breaking their own minds," Chai replied with a disdainful dismissal of one weaker than him. "The Drow elves are mostly immune, but he was becoming erratic from the mental contact and trying to openly recruit people, something that is forbidden. He was eliminated to keep him from revealing the Illithids as the source of our power. We will speak no more, for our conversation is over, it is time for you to watch this wench die."

"You will not harm the girl," I replied with such absolute certainty that Chai blinked at me. Chai knew that I did not bluff when I made a command.

"You are powerless to stop me and you cannot defeat me," Chai said with a forced laugh. "You will both die, but yours will be the slower death."

"It is true, that I am too weak to stop you, but they are not," I said pointing to the stairs I had come up. Chai looked suspicious, but his curiosity got the better of him and he turned to look and his face turned deathly pale.

"No!" He exclaimed in a horse whisper full of shock and fear.

Standing at the head of the stairs was Master Ling, Chai's master at his Chan Monastery. Master Ling was old, but also ageless, with his yellow skin stretched tight over his skull but his eyes were youthful, but his back was straight and stood easily. There was a glow about him, a golden fire that surrounded him with holiness. It was written in the way he stood that he was a rock that the chaotic ocean of life would beat upon fruitlessly, never moving him an inch (25mm). He was flanked by three other monks of Chai's monastery. Two of them carried the heavy halberds favored in the East and wore orange and saffron robes like their master. These two were men in their prime, dangerous looking even when standing still. They were both older than the young man wearing russet colored robes, he was obviously of lower rank and he stood with a staff slightly behind the other two. Back when I had told Helena go to Chai and have him describe his home so many weeks ago, I had eavesdropped on their conversation with my medallion and I was able to use the vividly detailed description he provided to make contact with Master Lin via the scrying mirror and I informed him, again using my medallion and a Tongue's Spell, of Chai's fall from his order. He had come now to collect his wayward follower.

Helena, her hands now free thanks to the ministrations of her familiar, that little stoat nibbling at her restraints to free her while Chai and I exchanged words. Helen reached down and slipped a small dagger from her boot, apparently she had done as I had instructed and learned that life lesson from Dimitri, to always keep a backup weapon hidden on your person, and she sliced at Chai's hand, the sudden attack making him flinch away from the pain and Helena rolled free. Chai, angry at the pain she had inflicted upon him, reached for her, but a single word barked by Master Lin brought him up short. Chai turned to look at his former master who pointed at the ground at his feet, ordering Chai to attend him.

"No!No!No!No!" Chai screamed as if in pain. He backed away from his fellow monks. He tripped and fell but continued to push himself while scooting on his butt away from the holy radiance that emanated from his master. Once again Master Lin barked out his single word of command and Chai froze and then once again the Chan Master pointed to the ground by his feet. Whimpering, Chai began to crawl forward on his belly, unable to deny the compulsion of the sacred oaths every monk of his order swears to bind themselves in a mystical and absolute geas of obedience and loyalty the temple and its leaders. A mage may bind someone to him with a Geas Spell, but the type of mystical magic the Chan temples used was far stronger than any Arcane spell.

Each movement Chai made was strained and reluctant as if they caused him great pain or his sins against his order were becoming heavier the closer he got to his master. Chai was weeping openly now, and I could feel his thoughts through my medallion as the illusions he had created to justify his actions were burned away by holiness of his master, leaving only the knowledge of how far he had fallen from his path toward enlightenment and the full measure of the evil he had done.

I hurried to Helena as fast as my cracked bones would allow and I took her in my arms and held her tightly as she cried in relief. But she did not cry for long, and she dried her eyes and stood straight once again, stooping to pick up her little familiar and rub her cheek against his in love and gratitude and then she leaned into me, and I found I welcomed the warmth and comfort of her being near me, but she could feel me shaking from the thought of losing her and she reached down to take my hand, giving it a warm, gentle squeeze to let me know everything was all right.

Chai had made it to his master's feet by now and the two fierce looking monks reached down and grabbed him under his arms and pulled him to his feet. He would not look his master in the eye, but simply wept. With the barest of nods, Master Lin gave his two monks a silent order and they began to drag him away down the broken stairs. Master Lin turned to me and Helena and the shorter, younger monk came up next to him and the old master spoke quietly to him as the younger monk nodded.

"Master Lin," the young monk said in perfect common to Helena and me, "wishes you to know that Brother Chai will begin his rehabilitation immediately. He will return to the path that he has abandoned, Mage Barrim. Master Lin would like to thank you for showing mercy to him even when you had cause not to do so."

I looked at Master Lin and then to his interpreter and said, "He was once like a brother to me, maybe he will be again. I did not want to abandon him to his hatred. I knew that something was affecting him, and it is the influence of the Illithid. Do you know this word?"

"We do," the young monk said seriously and then he repeated what I had said to his master in way that showed he was disgusted with the very words he had to say. Master Lin's eyes narrowed when he heard what had caused his student to fall from grace, but there was no other emotion evident. The two of them exchanged some more quick words with the younger monk nodding as Master Lin spoke.

"Master Lin, in his wisdom," the young said finally, "once again gives you thanks and blesses you for your mercy. Our Order accepts responsibility for Chai's actions and the cosmic debts his actions have caused. In partial payment, I will remain behind to serve you as best that I am able to alleviate some of that debt."

"What is your name?" I asked the monk. I did not argue with him, for I had learned from hard experience that student of the Chan discipline will not be dissuaded if he feels he owes someone a karmic debt."

"I am called, Brother Lee."

"Welcome Lee," I said to him, placing my left hand over my right fist to give him the traditional greeting I had learned from Chai, and which Lee returned. "But I must tell you, our path has been a dark and dangerous one and I have a strong suspicion that the darkness and danger will not end with the completion of this quest."

"If it so, then all the more reason I should walk it with you for the darker the path, the greater the merit for bringing light to it." Less said with a slight bow.

"Then we must return to our compatriots for they are under attack as we speak," I said urgently.

Lee translated to Master Lin and he acknowledged our departure with a graceful nod and then he turned to leave, walking effortlessly down the stairs to his waiting monks, almost floating, as he descended so completely had he mastered the movements of his body. I wish I could have made those stairs so effortlessly, but my wounds still gnawed at me and Helena and I went more slowly. We had only made it to first step when Helena slipped out from under my arm and ran back to the small fire that was quickly dying behind us. Looking in the shadows until she found a small purse and came back to me, she also brought Chai's staff that he had set down near the fire. She dumped her Ring of Spell Storing and her magical necklace into her hand from the purse, which she replaced the items back in their rightful place.

"He took them from me when he knocked me out," she said simply. I nodded in reply and took the staff to give it to Lee.

"This is enchanted and it was given to Chai to stand against the Illithid," I said as I presented the staff to Lee. "It is right you should take it up now for the fight that is to come."

Lee bowed formally in a silent thankfulness and accepted the staff and then the three of us made our way back to our camp as the best pace possible. Thanks to my healing ring, I was almost able to walk without the assistance of the spear, but I still felt tired to the bone.


	37. Chapter 37

We arrived back at camp and it was indeed under attack. Had there been enough to time to heal, I think they would have been doing better, but I could Gerrex bleeding freely and Brey's helmet was gone and his hair was flying like a medusa's serpents and he fought off our enemies. Charles was nowhere to be seen. The wererats were back, and they being assisted by another flying menace, three gargoyles swooped above our camp, diving down to attack or to drop stones down on my friends. I sent a mental message to a very worried Dimitri to let him know we were near. I saw a small smile appear on his haggard face in the light of our enchanted lanterns.

I undid the rawhide lashings of my Girdle of Hill Giant Strength and gave it to Lee as I said to him, "Take this, it is enchanted and will give you great strength!"

He did as he was told and I once again looked upon my beleaguered friends and I suddenly got angry. I mean I felt the kind of anger that makes you want to grab your enemy by the throat and throttle them just to see the fear of their own death in their eyes.

"_Fireball spell on the three gargoyles,_" I said to Helena in mind-speak. She let loose one of the two Fireball spells I had stored in her ring, and I released my own a heartbeat later. The two fireballs detonated close together, but a second apart, the double hammer of the spells caught them unware and filled the dark skies above with two fiery, but short-lived suns that lit the small glade with their sudden light. Even with their natural resistance to magic, the gargoyles could not resist that much damage delivered so quickly. Two of them fell, close enough to the party that the magic weapons they possessed could deal with the stunned gargoyles. I could see that the Venetti were not using the black arrows of the Death Knights, which meant their supply of htem was probably exhausted. The third gargoyle was able to remain in the air and shook its head to clear it and then spotted us and dived straight at us with a terrible grating scream like stone dragging across stone. He was met in the air by Brother Lee, who did a fantastically high spinning jump, aided by the magic girdle I had given him, and he brought the haft of his enchanted staff down so hard upon the gargoyles skull that its stony flesh cracked at the impact and brought it straight down to earth while Lee landed softly on his feet. The battered beast tried to rise up, but Brother Lee began to twirl his staff and struck so fast and furious the monster had no time to recover as it was beaten to death.

Once more I mentally give the command to use a Fireball Spell to Helena, but this time on a knot of wererats to our right thirty yards (27m) away, who were much softer targets, and the whooshing boom of their detonations threw several of the wererats into air, their arms, legs, and hairless tails all akimbo from the blasts. Helena suddenly jumped in front of me as I turned to a second knot of wererats to our left and a killing arrow aimed straight at my throat was deflected away by her magical necklace as she interposed herself between me and the arrow. I bent down and kissed her cheek from behind and said, "Thank you."

I was just able to cast my Haste Spell on Lee as he ran past me to engage that second band of wererats. I would swear on the grave of my mother, he looked like he was enjoying himself.

Helena fired off a lightning bolt at the wererat with the bow and his fur burst into flame when it struck his chest. He was not dead, but he was hurt. Lee, only slightly less fast than the lightning bolt, or so it seemed, hurled himself into their midst, swinging his staff in blurry arcs. His attack, so sudden and so ferocious, sent them scurrying away like the rats they are.

The other two gargoyles have up their lives quickly enough under the onslaught of our compatriots and for the moment, we had breathing to room to recoup. I shouted for everyone to regroup behind our camp's bank and ditch. Soon, we were all together smiling at each other. Charles was down, but still alive with an arrow that had taken him with a nasty wound in his wrist just below the cuff of his chainmail, but was unwounded otherwise. Everyone else was winded, and only slightly wounded, their magic armor having protected them to a great degree, except for Gerrex, who looked pale and worn from blood loss. Now that he was able to sit and rest, the blood stopped flowing. Amenaruu had one healing spell left, a Cure Light Wounds Spell, and he used it on Gerrex and some of his color came back and he nodded thanks to the priest, who just smiled.

If they were mostly intact, they were still a ragged bunch, but they were happy to see Helena and me but they were extremely puzzled at meeting a new member of the party and losing Chai. I promised them an explanation soon as I slowly took off my torn and much abused gambeson with Helena's help and tossed it in back of the little wagon.

"No," she said, "I can fix it."

She chanted her simple canticle of Mending and soon my gambeson was in serviceable condition once again. Godfrey and the two Venetti that had fallen in our previous were lying in the back of the big wagon resting as they had been the most seriously wounded. But they were looking better and I figured they would be all right by morning light.

"Are you going to live, Godfrey?" I asked in a lighthearted tone to our wagonmaster.

"I reckon I will," he answered, "but it was a narrow path I was walking there for a bit."

"I reckon we were all on that same path with you, but it all worked out for us," I answered him.

"Do you think those damn rat-men will come back?"

"Chai told me they had a master, 'the ruler of this valley' is what he said, they will be back if he orders them to come back. We can also expect others to come as well. Rest, drink, and allow your rings to heal you, for we must be ready if they do.

"I am right curious as to what you two have been up to," Godfrey said looking askance at Helena and me.

"Give me a moment and a cup of wine and I will tell you what I can of the story," I said in way of reply.

"Before you tell your story," Dimitri said to me as he motioned for me to follow him over to where the body of the illusionists was lying not far away, covered by his own cloak. The magic carpet and the leather strung ocarina for summoning Air Elementals lay near the small wagon. I would have rather sat down and rested, but it seemed important, so we went over to the corpse. We heard Charles yelp in pain as Amenaruu removed the arrow from his wrist as we went to the corpse. When Dimitri pulled back the cloak I found myself looking into the dead face of Drow, one of the denizens of the Underdark, the great world spanning labyrinth of caves that lay like worm rot under the ground.

"Another damn Drow," I said with a sigh, but not really surprised at the revelation considering what Chai had said about them being resistant to the madness of the Mind Flayers.

Dimitri pulled back the collar of the dead Drow to show the now familiar purple mark on his left breast.

"A member of the Cult of the Illithids," I said softly and Dimitri, a veteran campaigner who had heard the legends, snapped his head up at me.

"Mind Flayers?" He whispered the question in fear.

"That is what Chai told me," I replied. "He says they have a new power they discovered in some dark hole and intend to use it against our reality, to reshape it into their nightmare vision."

"What is a 'Mind Flayer'?" Charles asked loudly as he approached us holding his right hand up to keep it from throbbing. The rest of our party stopped what they were doing and looked up at us when they heard that word.

"Telling of them will take some time," I said to Charles, "and it is not a pleasant tale."

We returned to dubious defenses of our camp and Helena and I explained what had happened to her and why. I could see Brey looking sad and pensive when I explained how Leeanna's death had affected Chai, and he sat silently with his brow furrowed and dark. Dimitri was angry at Chai's betrayal, and I did not blame him, and he loudly claimed we should have killed Chai for the deaths of our companions back on the prarie. Charles seconded that idea very vehemently.

"And you should have given me a warning about him!" Dimitri said with an edge of anger in his voice pointing his finger at me accusingly. "It was an ignoble thing you did to me."

I shook my head, "There was what I knew, but could not prove. I did not want to create suspicion and animosity toward him if he was innocent."

"You dunderhead," Dimitri chastised me some more. "That bastard might have killed you and we would not even have seen it coming and do not tell me it was to preserve the party from infighting or some other tripe, you kept it to your because you like to keep your secrets to yourself."

"Indeed, the wizard has kept many secrets from us during our trials," Charles said darkly, "and he makes judgements about our enemies that rightly belong to all of us."

"You are right," I stood up and said to them all. "I was foolish to keep it to myself. I will endeavor to be more forthright about such things in the future. As far as killing him, I had more right than anyone else to do so, for they were my friends he struck down as well, just he struck me down with a dagger in the back and left me for dead in the sewers of Gensmot. He also made another attempt to kill me at the battle at the ford. He used an invisibility potion in order, I believe, to strike a blow against me during the battle, but his plans were interrupted by some attacking Gnolls he was forced to deal with, thus ending the invisibility effect before he could land his blow. But he was once my boon companion, my brother adventurer, who saved my life a dozen times over and I, his. That is not something you throw away lightly. This path that we walk, it has little to offer you but a bloody death in some stinking hole in the ground, unless you walk it with true companions who can watch your back. We will all fail, that is why we walk together so we can be strong when the another is weak. Chai in his grief was overcome by a great evil. It might well have happened to me, so I gave him his life back just like I would do for every single one of you."

I sat back down and everyone was silent for some time until Godfrey said something about getting some more wine and the conversation started up again. Our talking took us into the early morning hours and we lost sleep, but we knew we were not going to sleep anyway with our enemies still out in the darkness beyond our lights and most certainly watching us. But we did gain our health back hour by hour. Even if we had not already been attacked twice, I think no one really wanted to sleep because they felt too vulnerable here in this cursed place. Even though the clouds above had become tattered, letting a modicum of pale moonlight in for us to see, we all felt better when the dawn came without another attack and the shadows we found ourselves watching suspiciously crawled back under whatever was casting them upon the ground.

Amenaruu and I recharged our spells quickly, and I put a Fireball and a Lightning Bolt and one of my Magic Missile Spells into Helena's Ring of Spell Storing. From now on, Godfrey and his men would stay with the wagons and the adventurers would go forth to retrieve the Bloodstone. I figured we would be at the tomb, assuming it had not been hidden by some mountain landslide during the last eight hundred years, by midday. Going on foot we changed our marching order. Gerrex still scouted ahead, but not so far that we lost sight of him. In front, but to each side so that they formed a triangle pattern, were our two fighters, Brey went on our left and Charles to our right. Behind the "triangle" of our fighters the rest followed close behind in a diamond formation. Amenaruu was the leading point of the diamond with Dimitri opposite of him in the back watching our back trail. I was on the right and Helena on the left. If we entered any ruins, Dimitri, our delver, would trade places with Gerrex since that was Dimitri's specialty as our party's delver.

As we marched up the Ashie Valley, the dread we felt increased noticeably. It made us silent and edgy but we did not slow our pace. We were close enough to end of our goal that we would neither be deterred from going forward nor would we dawdle, so eager were we to be free of this quest. So we went forward, a grim and determined crew passing by the relics of the past, jumping at every little sound as we went until we reached the end of the valley. The ruins gave way to a path that went up into a grove of giant hemlock trees that looked half dead in the gray light and grayish white cobwebs filled the spaces between the branches and small animals lay dead and twisted in their gossamer threads. Under those great trees was only shadow and dread. We rested before the climb up and drank deep from our waterskins, more from reluctance from not wanting to enter the darkness under those ancient trees than anything else. But I did not want our courage to fail this close to the end of our journey and I ordered everyone up and to go forward.

We went up the hill until the trail flattened out and we could see down the long dark tunnel made by the branches the formed an archway over head a cave and in front of that cave was an crude altar of piled stones and a pale sickly green fire burned upon it, cast no light it seemed to relieve the darkness of this place. We stopped at the entrance to take stock of what we saw.

"This is the source of the curse that infects this valley," Amenaruu stated with certainty.

There were stones carved with crude ancient runes every few feet (every meter +/-) and I translated them in my head and said, "This place has been dedicated as to the god Kur the Malignant."

"We will face a great evil here," Amenaruu said with a grim sigh. "I think it best if I go first, for what lies inside in more likely to be in my realm of expertise than yours, my friends."

I had no argument to bring against his reasoning and so I motioned him forward toward altar and the cave and we followed, our feet treading on the dead hemlock needles on the ground. Before being fouled by Kur's hand, this must have been a sacred grove.

As we entered the great room, we heard whispering and even groaning that got louder the closer we got to the altar. Then forms emerged from the shadows that made our blood run like ice in our veins. They were pale translucent figures of blood covered men and women, each with their breast cut open and their hearts removed. Their pale faces were tormented and filled with hopeless despair as they reached their grasping hands out to us.

"Ghosts!" Whispered Brey loudly and we all stopped in our tracks without thinking as terror came upon us. Even Gerrex was shaking at the horrid sight. I was too frightened to count but there must have been many dozens of people, dressed in peasant's clothes, baker's frocks, and the clothing of the wealthy, but all dead and angry.

"Courage!" Shouted Amenaruu as he held up his holy symbol that spread a golden light all around us. The ghosts backed away from that light.

"By what right do you bring another god's light into this place?" A cold voice demanded angrily, it was not a living voice, but it could be heard quite audibly coming from the cavern in front of us. The small flame burning on top of the altar started swaying as if a breeze was playing angrily with it, but the air was still in that dead place.

"Come out of the darkness and find out for yourself," Amenaruu countered with brazen confidence.

There was movement and chatter of a chain being dragged as a figure came out from the darkness of the cave, it had once been human in fine green robes and it wore a twisted iron image of what I guessed to be Kur the Malignant on its breast. But the think coming toward us was not human, it was dead and the robes were a shroud that covered a desiccated corpse. The parchment-like skin was pulled tight over the skull like old brown leather and sickly green flames burned in the hollow eye sockets where once there had been eyes of a man.

"Priest," I said softly to Amenaruu, "this is a lich."

My companions, may the Aten bless them, did not run away at the sight of this undead thing. I believe that if any one of us had made a move to turn and run, the rest would have followed them, and I would have been right behind them.

"Indeed," agreed the lich in dead, threatening voice, "that is what I am, a perpetual priest to the terrible Kur and I will burn your hearts upon his altar."

"Serpis," I said aloud for some reason as the name popped into my head. "You are Serpis, the one who cursed this land eight hundred years ago when King Crecie's Dread Army defeated King Ivanisla. You gave the Hand of Vecna to King Crecie."

"Eight hundred years?" The lich said softly to itself. "So long?"

The lich then seemed to gather himself and demanded of me, "Who is it the names me?"

The voice had power, and whether I wanted to or not, I was going to answer the lich, but Amenaruu spoke up instead.

"The question is," Amenaruu said in voice that seemed to have taken on a unearthly quality of its own, "is why a priest must be chained to his own altar."

It was then I noticed that around the skeletal ankle of the lich a golden chain was fastened that ran to the a ring set in a large stone of the altar.

"To show my willingness to obey my god, little priest," the lich seemed to snarl. "I am blessed to serve him for all time, ever obedient and ever present at his altar to give him the praise he is due."

"You are not blessed," I said out loud, and regained some of my courage in doing so. "You are cursed. That is why you were willing to help the Illithid, because if they succeed, they will use their power to un-make you. You helped them so you could escape this altar of despair even if it meant the end your existence."

The green fires in the eyes of the lich blazed as it stared at me and the ghosts that surrounded us wailed with such a cacophony of horror and grief we were all shaking like leaves in the wind, except for Amenaruu.

"What do you know of being cursed, mage?" Demanded the lich, Serpis. "I have served faithfully for these past eight centuries."

"Then you have seen your god for what he is," Amenaruu stated, "and from the flame burning on that altar, your god is weak for that kind of god needs the faith of his worshippers to have power and therefore cannot be truly divine. He exists because of your belief in him, and the belief of these victims of your altar, but it is a miserly glory he has from you. You must possess the power to break that feeble chain that holds you but you do not break it. You wear it as your pride and as your folly. It is both a badge of rank, and an implement of servitude and deep in you, you know that it is a judgment you feel you must bear for your sins."

"You know nothing of the Magnificent Kur!" Screamed the lich and he thrust out his hand with a spell that would have destroyed anyone but Amenaruu, or a priest like him. As it was, Amenaruu staggered back to steps as if struck by a strong man, but he shook of the mystical blow and strode forward, holding his holy symbol before him. The lich, even though is face could show no expression, somehow expressed surprise that Amenaruu was still standing.

"Do not be so hasty to get rid of us, Serpis," Amenaruu said calmly. "Humor me for a moment, and then I will show you something worth your time. Surely boredom must be your greatest enemy here in this dead place. Play with your victims a little longer, Oh Great Priest, just for your amusement, if nothing else. In exchange for what I will show you, all that I ask is that you raise your right hand up with the palm facing me."

Dimitri and I looked at each other completely baffled by what Amenaruu was doing and I wondered if he had gone insane, but lich just looked at him without speaking for several long minutes before he raised hand as he had been instructed.

"Good," said Amenaruu, "that tells me everything I needed to know. Your false god could not strip your will from you for if he had done so, you would not have been able to freely give your service to him. So he left your spirit in that shell to suffer and to serve so he would always have someone to keep him in existence and that chain is a reminder of the sins you committed in his name and it is his lie that you cannot break it. He promised you power and immortality, but he did not tell you the cost, such is typical of his ilk. But I too, made a bargain with you, I will fulfil it now."

The light began to flood out of Amenaruu's holy symbol like sunlight in the desert it bathed the lich in its golden rays and the lich tried to hide its eyes behind his skeletal arms.

"Your will is still your own," intoned Amenaruu is voice resonating with power, "and you can bend your will to your repentance. The tears you have shed for the blackness of your sins are but drops in the ocean of the Aten's mercy. Deny your false god and repent and you shall be released from this foul place."

Another light began to glow around the lich, a green sickly glow that made itself into a half-seen image of a horned being with a thick, grotesque face twisted in anger and hate.

"Aaaaghhh!" Screamed the lich as he twisted as if he was in great pain. "Your light is burning me! I cannot escape my servitude!"

"Your servitude is a lie!" Shouted Amenaruu. "Repent of your sins and they will bind you to this foul god no longer."

"I am chained by my sins," whimpered the lich as if he were being lashed by each word he spoke. "And your light will destroy me!"

"Lies!" Shouted Amenaruu. "You foul god is lying to you! Break yourself free and except the Mercy of the Aten and you will live again, the true life of a spirit perfected for his light only burns away the blackness of your sins that stain your soul and leaves the eternal spirit alive!"

The air was filled with a tense energy that thrummed so intensely from this mystical battle we were watching unfold as Amenaruu fought against this ancient god that it made my teeth hurt with its vibrations.

"Repent," came a whisper, not from any of us, but from one of the ghosts that surrounded us. It repeated itself, making the word into a chant that was soon picked up by the other ghosts as they turned from us to face the lich.

"Repent. Repent. Repent." The unearthly voices carried softly, but firmly through the grove.

Finally with a great screech of pain the Serpis the Lich cried out, "I repent! I repent! Save me from my cruel master!"

The scream that came from that dying god haunted my nightmares for years, but its form was blasted apart as the last its believers gave up his belief and the corpse that once held the imprisoned soul of Serpis, the High Priest of Kur, crumbled to the ground and for the briefest of seconds, there stood before us spirit of man with a look of wonder and peace upon his face before he disappeared from our sight and both the golden light of the Aten and the sickly green light of Kur died out.

We looked around at the ghosts that surrounded us and they no longer had their fearful visages. Their clothes were now spotless white and the any signs of wounds and blood were gone and their faces, once twisted in cruel suffering, were calm. One by one they crossed their arms over their chests and closed their eyes and faded away until only we the living were left in the grove.


	38. Chapter 38

We stood there in silence, the tension gone, but the vileness of the place remained, like a stench that lingers after a rotting corpse is taken away. I did, however, breathe easier as did my companions.

"What just happened?" Charles asked his eyes wide.

"It is called adventuring, boy," Dimitri said to him as he walked into the cave a short way. "Get used to it."

We all laughed at that and Amenaruu said, "I must dismantle this altar and bless this place to erase the…echoes of that false god. I will leave you all to retrieve the object of our quest for I will not desecrate a grave, not even for you my good friend, Barrim."

"I understand," I said with a nod and then I heard a whistle from Dimitri and he came out carrying two handfuls of gold trinkets.

"That cave is stuffed with treasure!" He said with a smile stretching from ear to ear.

"Offerings to Serpis' god and put there to mock his priest, no doubt," said Amenaruu. "Giving him treasures and immortality and power and leaving him here in the forsaken place where it was all meaningless. I will bless the treasure to make sure none of that poor man's bad luck follows us back."

"Dimitri and I will enter the burial chamber," I said to my people. "We have more experience in that than the rest of you. I do not want to lose another one of you to some careless accident this close to the end of our adventure."

There was still a threat from the evil things that lived in this valley, so that we had to remain cautious. I told Helena that she was the main spellcaster if they were attacked. I gave her my medallion and told her to contact me with mind-speak if we were needed. She stood on her toes and kissed my cheek.

"For good luck," she said, smiling at me. The rest of our party was smiling as well, except for Charles who had a black look on his face.

"Ready?" Dimitri asked a me a few minutes later as he slung his leather pack of delver's tools over his shoulder. I took a similar, but less complete set as well.

"Ready," I replied and we went into the cave using our enchanted lanterns to light our way. The entrance to cave was stuffed with treasure, and that heartened me greatly for my companions would not go away empty handed from this quest. The natural cavern gave way to worked stone, beautifully done. The floor was carved as if it had been tiled with crisscrossing lines making a diamond pattern on the floor and fluted columns were carved in relief reaching overhead to for round arches.

Dimitri said, "Dwarf work. We will have to be extra careful, they are tricky bastards."

Dimitri lay down on his belly and with a lantern and a small mirror inched forward, examining every inch of the floor. Occasionally, he would mark the dusty floor with an "X" inside one of the diamonds that made up the floor pattern. When he crawled some forty feet (12m) his lantern illuminated a wooden door banded in iron with a simple latch locked with a rusted padlock.

"You can come forward," he said to me at last, "but do not step on any of the diamonds I marked with chalk, they are pressure plates for traps. I made my way carefully up the hall until I was next to Dimitri as he squatted, examining the door and the lock. He held a small lens in front of his right eye as he looked the lock over.

"Rusted lock and no key to open it," Dimitri said. "What should we do?"

"Snap the lock?" I asked back, knowing Dimitri was expecting that answer and that it was wrong, but I humored him.

"That is what you are supposed to do," he replied in a superior tone, "and that is what was mean to kill you. Look, there is a gap between the latch and the door on the bottom side of the latch even though the latch is supposed to be attached to the outside of the door. You can see the door has been hollowed behind the latch to allow it pivot. If we pry on the lock, the latch will pivot and set off the trap."

"Do we cut off the lock?" I asked my friend.

Dimitri shook his head no, and then pointed to a section of the door near the bottom.

"The grain pattern on these planks do not match the ones above, even though they are supposed to be the same pieces of wood. In fact, these are upside down."

Dimitri reached in his pack and pulled a very thin piece of meatal with a hook on one end and slipped it into the gaps between the planks of wood.

"Lucky for us," he said, "this wood has dried out over the centuries, it makes the gaps between the planks wider."

He wiggled the thin strip of metal around until it hooked on something and then he, with some effort, got the latch holding that section of the door to release, and three planks came off together, revealing a hole big enough for one person to crawl through.

"Somebody put that small panel back upside down, which was fortunate," Dimitri stated, "because it may have taken me a long time to figure that out if they had not done so."

Dimitri pulled out a piece of straw the length of a man's forearm and reached through the opening. The straw trick I knew, he was testing for tripwires. Next came his visual inspection and then he crawled through the hole and a few minutes later called for me to come through. I was bigger than Dimitri and I had to squirm a lot more to get in, but I made it. I was starting to sweat, it was hot in this hole. Once inside, I could see the back of the door and the trap mechanism attached to set off some fiendish trap. This room was small, maybe ten feet by twelve (3m x4M) and the floor was smooth stone and gone were the fancy fluted columns and there was another door, similar to the previous door except it was not locked. Dimitri handed me his mirror.

"Look through the gap on top of the door where the door has settled," he ordered me.

I did so and said, "Arrow trap set to go off when the door is opened."

"Thought so," Dimitri said. "There is a mark on the door behind us where the thing was tested to see if it worked"

Hehe made a pushing motion for me to back up against the wall opposite of him. I did so and he retreated as well and then used a hook at the end of a folding wooden pole. He used this hook to open the door, and when he did the door screeched on rusty hinges until it was fully open a large crossbow bolt sped out of the room beyond and imbedded itself in the door behind us.

Looking through the door, we could see a Dwarven crossbow mounted on the wall opposite of the door, its limbs powered with springs to fire the bolt. The room was the same size as they one that we were in, but on the left there were stairs leading downward. With the trap triggered Dimitri once again tested for trip wires but found none. The he tapped on the stone floor with his hook on a pole. Five feet in (1.5m) the sound of the tapping changed. Dimitri rand the point of the hook over the plane stone floor and easily scratch the surface of the stone.

"Plaster," he said to me, "covering a pit trap. Step on it, and down you go."

Once Dimitri figured out how wide the trap was, we were able to jump over it easily enough. We then moved to the stairs, moving down them slowly, testing each one.

"_How are you faring?_" That mental message from Helena and I answered back with and all is well message in the silent language of thought. I did not tell Dimitri of the contact since he was concentrating on his job. The only thing we found was the second to the last stair was extra tall, which would make someone trip. At the bottom of the stair, in a small antechamber with an open archway across from the stairs, was another plaster covered pit trap. Come down the stairs, trip and fall and crash through the false floor into the pit, or find the trick step and be overconfident and walk onto the fake floor and fall into the pit.

This was the last trap and we moved into the tomb itself. There were four sarcophagi in the room, each bearing an effigy and all three of them close but the last one, the lid was leaning against the wall. There was a mural on the wall, dusty, but the still bright colors shown through dust. They showed King Ivanisla, his queen, and his sons. One of the sons, the younger of two it looked like, had his eyes scratched out. I noticed the scratched out eyes first before I saw the rest of the face and I must have gasped.

"What?" Dimitri said, suddenly concerned."

"That mural," I replied, "do you see the person with his eyes scratched out?"

"Yes?"

"That is Lord Valker. This is his family's tomb."

"So Lord Valker is actually Prince Valker," Dimitri said shaking his head. I guess that is how he knew where to find this place. Do you see our prize?"

I looked over to where Dimitri was pointing and in the hands of the effigy of King Ivanisla, was the crown with the three gemstones glowing dully in our light so covered in dust and cobwebs was it. The king held the crown up as if he were offering it too us. On his stone head, he wore a replica carved in the same white marble as the rest of the effigy.

"It looks like it is ours for the taking," I said to Dimitri without moving.

"That is exactly what it looks like," Dimitri agreed.

"Then it has got to be trap," I said.

"That is the way I figure it," he replied.

"Hold on," I said as I dug through my pack to find the scroll I had brought. I shook it out of his holder and spread it out in the light of our lantern and then read the Arcane spell written on it. It was a Dispel Magic spell that should reveal the truth.

The illusion covering the crown in the hands of the effigy dissipated and the gleaming gold turned to a dull brass, but the stone crown on his head was suddenly revealed to be the true crown.

"Let me check it to see if it is trapped," Dimitri said, "and then we can get out of here."

It took more than an hour and answered another mental inquiry from Helena. While Dimitri did his work, I quickly sketched the faces of the King Ivanisla and his family, minus Valker. I was just finishing up when Dimitri gently removed the crown from its marble head.

"Let us leave," he said and I agreed.

We soon joined our companions and it was nearing night, but I decided Gerrex, Charles, and Brey could bring Godfrey and our wagons forward. They arrived just before darkness had completely filled the valley and we showed them the treasure and Godfrey and his men were ecstatic.

There is little else to tell of the adventure from this point onward. We left unmolested from the valley with wagons and horses ladened with treasure. We had no trouble on our journey back, partly because we had dealt with our hidden enemies and partly because we traveled in the company of a tribe of Orcs, which no sane creature would normally attack. There was only one episode that might be of interest. We stopped near the willow bordered stream again to make camp and Helena and I went to the stream to speak. We sat on the bank next to each other with her stoat familiar sleeping in fold of her skirt that covered her lap.

"You know that I love you," she said almost sadly. "But tell me true, how do you feel about me?"

"Take of that magic necklace," I said to Helena and when she did so I placed my medallion on her instead. "Reach out and see what my feelings are."

Her face showed her concentration and then it melted into softness and her eyes glistened a little and then I bent over and kissed her fully on the mouth.

We made it back to Gensmot and were the talk of every tavern and inn for two weeks. Angus and his cronies, now with bad reputations and few prospects, had to look on with envy as we rolled in with our treasure.

Amenaruu lamented us having to destroy the blessed crown, but it had to be done. Our mission had been to return the Bloodstone only as there was no way Valker could stand to be around a blessed object. Amenaruu's dismay was lessened when I presented him with the emerald and told him he could use it to heal the poor in the city.

Well into the early morning hours, I unrolled the flying carpet we had taken from the illusionist and, having discerned its command word on our trip back, I flew it up into night to the top of Valker's tower where a faint red glow cold be seen.

Valker and Shasanni were there in moonless night.

"The word is all around the city that you had returned," Shasanni said when I stepped off of the carpet and onto the stone tower.

Lord Valker must have fed recently and well for he no longer looked like a frail man ready to die, but a young man of maybe twenty five and in his prime, just like his image in his family's tomb.

"I have," I replied, "and my quest was successful."

"May I present to you," the Doppelganger said, "Boris Valker, the new lord of this tower."

I bowed low to the vampire and said, "I bring you the Bloodstone, Your Highness."

Shasanni looked puzzled as Valker laughed and said, "I see you have discovered another secret about me. May I ask how you did so?"

I handed him the small leather pouch with the gem in it and he dumped out into his palm. It glistened in the red light. I then said, "I saw the effigies of your family, and yourself in the tomb of your father, mother, and brother, but you as well. Although your image had been mutilated, I am afraid."

"That does not surprise me," Valker said. "When I was captured by Crecie in a skirmish, I was forced to become a nosferatu and at the behest of my undead master, I was forced to betray my father, the king."

"You did not become undead willingly?" I asked surprised, and I could tell Shasanni was as surprised as I was.

"No," he said. "I was not given the choice. I can never be buried on the sacred ground of my family's crypt, nor even set foot in it. But I would have like to have seen the likenesses of my family once more, for even the memories of a vampire fade over the centuries."

I said nothing but reached into my satchel and removed my journal. From it I tore the sketches I had made in the tomb and handed them to Valker. He took them, curious at first and then he sat down on a nearby stool, his face showing real emotion for the first time and it was a sublime sadness. I think if he had been able to cry, he would have shed a tear just then.

"It seems you have given me a great deal more than I asked for," Valker finally said in a hushed tone.

"Your good will may evaporate in a moment. I have information about the cult that has been trying to kill you, the cult of the purple rune. I can name for you their true nature and their true purpose."

Both of them looked at me, their eyes now full of wariness and danger. I began to speak and tell them of what I had learned from Chai and I did not leave that tower until the morning was dawning and then I returned to my anxious apprentice who had waited for me looking up at the tower all night.

**EPILOUGE**

One year and three months after we returned to Gensmot and one year after my marriage to Helena, my adventuring party met once again at the new Temple of the Aten where Helena and me were bringing our children to be dedicated to the Aten. Homer and Penelope were twins, bore a month ago and favoring their mother in looks.

The news of the Cult of the Illithid was spread as far and as wide as we could hope to make it and although many did not believe what I had to say, Lord Valker and Gensmot's Doge believed me and I had become far too involved in the machinations and intrigues of Gensmot's court since I had gotten back. I also bought the my shop, which thankfully Lenni had not burned down in my absence, from my crook of a landlord. I then rebuilt the broken tower attached to it by the simple expediency of placing mud bricks in rows and turning them to stone. There was a real war brewing now between the Assem and the Varis kingdoms to the south and alliances were being made. No one was naïve enough to believe that this was just coincidence and so Gensmot was fielding its first army in the last hundred years. Gerrex and the Orcs of the Red Cougar clan formed the backbone of that force. They also made up a large portion of the Cult of the Aten's new membership, but only a portion for it had grown in popularity thanks to its acts of charity that endeared it to locals, which of course made many of the other cults angry. The wealth we had brought back had helped the Aten spread his message of light.

The weather had been cold and wet, but this day as we traveled by carriage, my bride and I, it was quite fair and sunny. Amenaruu was beaming in the sunlight of midwinter's day dressed in white wool robes to keep out the chill. Brey was there for the ceremony with his new wife, the widow of Wil Marlet who had been the woman who watched him when he fought Gerrex in the Pits. Her name was Winifred. They were talking with a sullen Charles, who was Brey's premiere pupil in his school of fencing. Dimitri was there of course, dressed in a fine blue silk shirt and with a black cape with silver fastening and Lee, who was staying with the priests of the Aten and who had become great friends with Amenaruu was there talking to him. The surviving Venetti had returned to their homeland wealthy men and Godfrey was off on another expedition with another adventuring party somewhere. Gerrex was there, standing silently by but he nodded to me and Helena when we walked in with Amenaruu. both Helena and I we were surprised by the extra guests that had shown up. One was Shasanni, bearing a dedication gift from the new Lord Stargazer, who could not make it to the ceremony. The other woman was Argenta, the silver dragon in human form and a large well-built man standing next to her. When I saw his face I recognized Lowen, the Lammasu. I greeted both these august personages with great delight and puzzlement at them being there, and I said as much to them. After the ceremony, Helena I had a chance to speak to them alone and once again I expressed my delight but great surprise that they were there.

Lowen just smiled and said, "We are here to see the ones who can stop our enemies, your two children."

"Our children?" Helena asked a bit taken back.

"Indeed," said Argenta. "Did we not say it would be an act of creation that would set about the destruction of the foul ones."

"You said that the quest we were on was only a catalyst for something else. That something else was the birth of our children?" I asked astonished. "That entire quest was just so I would get Helena pregnant?"

"Indeed," smiled Lowen, "that was the entire reason."


End file.
